bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Trinity between East and West
Authors: Letham Robert
Published: July 2010

Although—following contemporary interpreters—this article qualifies Theodore de Régnon's famous sharp distinction between Eastern and Western trinitarianism, it argues that the 'acid test' of the liturgy makes clear that there simply is a contrast between Eastern and Western ways of conceiving of the Trinity. Historically, this contrast found its focal point in the filioque controversy. Therefore, after a sketch of the broader framework of the divergence between Eastern and Western theology, the pros and cons of the addition of the filioque clause to the Creed are discussed. It turns out that Augustine played an ambivalent role in this connection. Finally—drawing on some recent proposals, a way forward in the filioque debate is suggested.
The Relationship between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity
Authors: Lee Seung Goo
Published: July 2010

This article focuses on one of the main issues in the contemporary trinitarian renaissance, viz. the relationship between the immanent (or ontological) and the economic Trinity. It takes its starting-point in what is labeled 'the classic model' as shared by both the Eastern and the Western church. The basic idea here is that the economic Trinity is the epistemological ground of the immanent Trinity whereas the immanent Trinity is the ontological ground of the economic Trinity. It is shown that this model is endorsed by two influential Reformed theologians, viz. John Calvin and Herman Bavinck. Next, the 'model of the new theology of the cross' is introduced, as represented by Eberhard Jüngel and Jürgen Moltmann. Especially Moltmann's innovative proposals are critically discussed. Characteristic of this second model is that the distinction between the ontological and economic Trinity is blurred. Third, it is argued that Dutch Reformed theologian Hendrikus Berkhof offered an even more radical model, which leaves us with only the economic Trinity. Although both of these contemporary models have their attractions, it is concluded that we have every reason to stick to the classic model.
The Asian Pursuit of Trinitarian Theology in a Multireligious Context
Authors: Chung Paul
Published: July 2010

Does the Christian theology of the Trinity in an Asian context mesh with a “life horizon” of religious pluralism? Like an endeavor of the Asian face of Christology, several Asian scholars have attempted to construct an Asian conceptualization of the Trinity with respect to spirituality, wisdom, and minjung in a life horizon of world religions. This writing introduces an Asian theology of the Trinity and constructs a theology of the Trinity from an Asian irregular perspective.
God, the Trinity, and Latin America Today
Authors: Cervantes-Ortiz Leopoldo
Published: July 2010

This essay tries to show the diverse ways in which it is possible to refer to the Christian Trinity inside the Latin American culture. An example is given—the Mexican culture—where Christian beliefs are continuously changing under the impact of certain ideas and practices from the postmodern mind. Contemporary Latin American cultures are a mixture of pre-modern, modern, and post-modern elements. The belief in the Trinity is a product of these elements and expresses social, political, and ideological transformations. The traditional, dogmatic, Christian teaching of the Trinity is not the main source for comprehension in that situation. Indeed, theological education has not brought enough explanation of the better form to actualize these types of beliefs. Both Catholic and Protestant theologies need a fresh approach to this problem.
Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Nature
Authors: Crisp Oliver
Published: July 2010

In the recent literature there have been several accounts of Jonathan Edwards's doctrine of God (Theology Proper). In this paper, I offer a rather different interpretation of Edwards, showing that his understanding of the divine nature is much more in keeping with the Reformed scholastic tradition in which he was educated, despite the fact that he ends up embracing a version of panentheism.
The Effects of Sin upon Human Moral Cognition
Authors: Peels Rik
Published: July 2010

This article provides an elaborate defense of the thesis that we have no reason to think that sin has any direct effects upon our moral cognition. After a few methodological comments and conceptual distinctions, the author treats certain biblical passages on humans’ evil hearts, the function of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 2 and 3, Paul’s comments on the moral situation of the Gentiles in Romans 2, and Paul’s ideas on the Gentiles’ futility of mind as found in Ephesians 4. The most that can be concluded from these passages is that sin has not damaged human moral cognitive faculties to such an extent that they function insufficiently to hold people morally responsible. The author also argues that it is a consequence of sin that humans have knowledge by acquaintance of sin, and that it is only by divine revelation that humans recognize certain morally reprehensible acts, beliefs, and emotions as sinful. Finally, it is briefly argued that we have good reason to think that sin has certain indirect effects upon our moral cognition.
International Negotiation Pedagogy
Authors: Timura Christopher T.
Published: July 2010

This collection of articles on international negotiation pedagogy compares and contrasts a range of training methods and theories employed by scholars who teach international negotiation from different disciplinary backgrounds and in diverse institutional settings. Notwithstanding this variation, the contributors share a focus on enabling students to engage in negotiation and conflict analysis by teaching a set of core heuristics, to better understand interpersonal behavioral dynamics and learning certain interpersonal skills, and to practice negotiation and conflict analysis through the use of role plays and simulations. The contributors make different observations about the impact of students’ personal knowledge and experiences on their ability to learn negotiation skills, and have developed different ways of incorporating student backgrounds in their approaches to negotiation training. The development of more complex simulations is one way instructors are beginning to leverage student knowledge and experience to achieve pedagogical goals.
Negotiating Toward Peacemaking: Experience of the U.S. Institute of Peace
Authors: Aall Pamela , Lekson Michael
Published: July 2010

This article outlines the approach of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to training in negotiation and associated skills. USIP has provided such training for over a decade to a wide array of international practitioners, both those who are in some way directly engaged in, or at least affected by, a conflict, and international third parties from outside the conflict zone. USIP concentrates in its negotiation training on building an understanding of the negotiating environment as well as on building specific negotiation strategies. In addition to skill-building, the training programs focus on developing an understanding of the nature and dynamics of conflict and of the overlapping and interlocking nature of actors, issues, and interests in a conflict situation. The article points out five elements of content that must be included to ensure a successful program, providing illustrative examples from actual workshops. These elements include helping participants to establish effective relationships with negotiating counterparts; presenting basic concepts; acquiring and improving skills; practicing through simulations; and working together on how best to apply these skills to the real world conflicts with which they are dealing. The two case studies describe training programs for Serbian and Albanian leaders in Kosovo, and for Iraqi civil servants.
Challenges for the (Present/) Future of ird World Approaches to International Law
Authors: Odumosu Ibironke
Published: July 2010

This article examines the future of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and its ability to meet its challenges and achieve its objectives in a hegemonic international system. It discusses the fundamental role of ideas, the challenge of ideational (and material) power, and the reconstruction of identities, in meeting the challenges of TWAIL perspectives. In discussing these components and their interaction, the article observes that while they show some promise for the future of TWAIL, they also embody severe limitations. The article concludes with some thoughts about TWAIL's future engagements and on the note that even though the challenges are arduous, TWAIL perspectives possess some potential to meet the present and future challenges of reconstructing the international legal system.
The International Criminal Court and the External Non-Witness Expert(s), Problematic Concerns: An Exploratory Endeavour
Authors: Overton Angela , Rothe Dawn
Published: July 2010

The role of the expert in criminal justice proceedings has long been an area of contention and debate among practitioners and scholars. Yet, there has been little to no discussion of the role of experts within the International Criminal Court (ICC). Here a bifurcation is drawn between those experts that are witnesses and the non-witness experts that are 'hidden' from the official processes, yet play a role in the investigations and analysis of cases. The focus of this piece is on the Office of the Prosecutor's (OTP) (hired) external non-witness experts. To date, there has been little to no criminological attention to this phenomenon. Yet there are organic concerns such as the process of knowledge-making, objectivity, 'truth' and substantive and procedural concerns that merit attention given that they are contracted to provide expertise in a particular area to help inform the way in which evidence is analyzed with the broader goal of 'proving' something important in a trial. Additionally, there is institutional equality of arms concerns related to the use of these non-disclosed experts that directly relates to due process. The use of non-witness experts is further complicated by the multiplicity of and/or relevance of fields from which they are drawn. It is the goal of this paper to explore these issues and provide a frame for theoretically situating the impact of non-witness external experts on the judicial process within the context of the ICC.
Did the Historical Jesus Prohibit All Oaths? Part 2
Authors: Meier John
Published: July 2010

The total prohibition of oaths (Matt 5:34-37) come from the historical Jesus. The criterion of discontinuity argues that there is no parallel to Jesus' total prohibition of oaths in the Jewish Scriptures, the intertestamental literature prior to 70 C.E., or the NT. The Jewish Scriptures take oaths for granted and imposes them in a few cases. Apart from Jas 5:12, the NT knows of no prohibition; Paul uses oaths with abandon. The criterion of multiple attestation argues that Jas 5:12 represents an independent tradition of the prohibition; Jas 5:12 is parallel to Matt 5:34-37 in both content and structure; James has other examples of Jesus' sayings woven into his epistle without attribution; and Jas 5:12 is at odds with James' treatment of the Law in the rest of his epistle. Hence Jas 5:12 qualifies as an independent witness to an isolated stream of oral tradition preserving Jesus' prohibition. This is Part 2 of a two-part essay.
A New Consensus on Oral Tradition? A Review of Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Authors: Marshall Howard
Published: July 2010

Bauckham's monograph is warmly welcomed for the way in which it synthesizes recent work on oral tradition and makes a fresh contribution to the debate. His proposal for giving a fuller role to eyewitnesses is assessed over against the view of D.E. Nineham. The need to demonstrate that it gives a better understanding of the actual material in the Synoptic Gospels is partly met by the detailed complementary work of J.D.G. Dunn. We need a similar treatment of the material in John to see whether Bauckham does better justice to the text than the approach of A.T. Lincoln. Nevertheless, Bauckham's thesis is well-defended and should lay to rest any lingering doubts about the way in which eyewitness testimony controlled the material recorded in the Gospels.
Authenticating Criteria: The Use and Misuse of a Critical Method
Authors: Rodríguez Rafael
Published: July 2010

In this essay I analyse the usual (mis)use(s) of the criteria of historical authenticity in historical Jesus research. Whereas the general appeal to the criteria has pursued at least a semblance of objectivity in historical-critical research, in practice the criteria have provided useful and clearly identifiable windows into how scholars have conceived the task(s) of historical reconstruction (i.e., their particular subjectivity). After surveying the relevant literature, I question the analytical concepts authentic and inauthentic as schemata orientating historical reconstruction. We should recognize and employ the criteria as tools that facilitate and affect the interpretation of historical traditions rather than (merely) their authenticity.
Were the Hasmoneans Really Aniconic?
Authors: Meyers Eric
Published: July 2010

With the abundance of evidence that the Israelites in the First Temple period did not strictly observe the Second Commandment banning images, it seems increasingly difficult to agree with the longstanding view that the Hasmoneans were aniconic. Given the fact that they were so deeply Hellenized, it might be more appropriate to refer to their selective practice of banning some sorts of art as "anti-idolic."
On the Need for a Jewish Artistic Canon
Authors: Mendelsohn Ezra
Published: July 2010

Mendelsohn's contribution raises the issue of a Jewish "artistic canon," paralleling the better-known efforts to establish a Jewish literary canon. Which works of art—painting, photographs, sculptures, buildings—should be included in such a canon? What are the criteria for making such a selection?
Where History and Visual Culture Intersect
Authors: Cohen Richard
Published: July 2010

This contribution emphasizes, through two different problems, the benefit of interdisciplinary work in the field of Jewish history and visual culture. It raises various questions that such studies can provoke and suggests possible angles of research.
The Satyr as Prophet: Notes on the “Jewish” Michelangelo
Authors: Biemann Asher
Published: July 2010

Focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the essay argues that there existed a Jewish fascination with the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti that was representative not only of a larger German and Jewish Italophilia at the time but also indicative of Jewish aesthetic concerns. Lodged between popular culture and the intellectual quest for an aesthetics that would problematize the figurative image and the classical sense of the beautiful, the Jewish reception of Michelangelo was guided by the themes of terribilita, unfinishedness, and the destruction of form. What emerges is a consistent dialectic of image and anti-image particularly in the writings of Salomon Ludwig Steinheim, Sigmund Freud, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Ernst Bloch. But what also emerges is that German Jewish intellectuals entertained a great, though often ambivalent, admiration for the Italian Renaissance and the culture of modern Italy.
“Remembered for Praise”: Some Ancient Sources on Benefaction to Herod's Temple
Authors: Greenfield Noah , Fine Steven
Published: July 2010

The Temple of Jerusalem was reconstructed and enlarged under the patronage of Herod the Great beginning in 20/19 BCE. This essay assembles epigraphic sources from Jerusalem and literary sources preserved in the writings of Flavius Josephus and the ancient rabbis for benefaction to the Temple by individual wealthy Jews. Donors from as far afield as Rhodes, Alexandria and Adiabene may be identified, with Nicanor of Alexandria and Queen Helena and her son Monobazus of Adiabene appearing in archaeological remains, Josephus and rabbinic literature. This corpus provides a controlled example of ways that literary sources of various genre and archaeological remains may be placed in conversation so as to elicit historical evidence that may be of use to students of Jewish and general Roman antiquity.
Global Civil Society and International Law in Global Governance: Some Contemporary Issues
Authors: Woodward
Published: July 2010

This article examines current academic knowledge regarding the international relations and political science concept of 'global governance' as it has emerged in international law scholarship. The notion of 'global governance' encompasses the broad realm of political interaction aimed at global problem-solving. It includes the United Nations system, its organs and agencies, and the public and private legal institutions, regimes and networks governing relations among states and other actors across state borders. Its value in contemporary discourse lies in the need for a concept broader than 'international law' that encompasses the multitude of legal and non-binding regulatory mechanisms currently existing beyond the national domain. The contemporary idea also incorporates the phenomenon of 'global civil society,' but it repudiates global 'government.' Instead, the discourse focuses on role of democracy in global governance.Part One commences with an exploration of the meaning of 'global governance' and of the contemporary framework of global governance. The second section then situates the emerging concept of 'global civil society' and international law within the global governance framework and distinguishes global governance from global 'government.' The third section then explores globalisation and its various effects on global governance. Part Two first examines the philosophical origins of the idea of civil society, then looks at the historical evolution of the role of civil society actors in global governance, and finally investigates contemporary meanings of the terms 'civil society,' 'global civil society,' 'civil society organizations' and 'nongovernmental organization' (NGO).
The Requirement of Reasons for Findings of Fact
Authors: Menashe Doron
Published: July 2010

In recent years, various common law jurisdictions have been inclined to impose upon courts an obligation to give reasons for their findings of fact. This trend has not been free of criticism. Alongside those who cite the conventional argument that such an obligation would unduly burden the judicial system, a more fundamental critique has been suggested by Ronald Allen and Gerald Seniuk. Allen and Seniuk claim that the nature of factual reasoning, and the fact that this process is not transparent to the fact finder herself, doom the requirement of reasons to failure.This article attempts to examine the desirability of a requirement of reasons for findings of fact in light of this fundamental critique. I will endeavour to show that while the basic, important insights at the heart of Allen and Seniuk's critique do relate to essential elements of the process of factual reasoning, they leave other aspects of this process enigmatic or problematic. This is the case, in particular, regarding the character of claims on matters of fact put forward by litigating parties. I contend that within these, additional aspects of the reasoning process the requirement of reasons would be beneficial. Consequently, I suggest a rethinking of the scope of the reasons that should be required, and a conceptual reappraisal of the nature of the requirement of reasons on findings of fact: rather than conceive of the process of giving reasons as one in which the fact finder must raise beyond the brink of consciousness the considerations that led her to her decision, we should see this process as one of critical review, employed by the fact finder to constrain the intuitive, subconscious sphere in which initial impressions are conceived.
The Dilemma of Traditional Knowledge: Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Knowledge
Authors: Fitzmaurice Malgosia
Published: July 2010

This essay deals with the issue of traditional knowledge and critically assesses the relevant provisions of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. It also analyses “soft law” instrument, the so-called, Akwé: Kon Voluntary Guidelines. The essay illustrates the problems relating to the regulation of indigenous knowledge by examples from practice.
Critical Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL): Theory, Methodology, or Both?
Authors: Okafor Obiora Chinedu
Published: July 2010

This paper engages with the question of whether TWAIL is a theory, a methodology, or both. It takes the mainstream positivist understandings of the concepts of "theory" and "methodology" seriously in order to assess TWAIL scholarship against those (admittedly contingent) measures. It argues that TWAIL offers both theories of, and methodologies for, analysing international law and institutions, before concluding that TWAIL can be usefully thought of in the way suggested by its very appellation: as a broad approach.
Who is Indigenous? Construction of 'Indigenousness' in Russian Legislation
Authors: Stammler-Gossmann Anna
Published: July 2010

The aim of this article is to identify the unique Russian conceptualisation of indigenousness and its origin in relation to state formation. First, I focus on the variety of the internationally used legal vocabulary in the Russian context. To be familiar with the understanding of 'indigenousness' in Russia also means to be familiar with its history: every modern legal, political or social interpretation of the notion of 'indigenous' in Russia refers to it. I explore the question 'What does it mean to define a people as "indigenous" inhabitants of the land' from historical, economic, social, and cultural perspectives, which preconditioned and have fostered the contradictory nature of the 'indigenousness' discourse in contemporary Russia. In doing so, I focus on the state approach in the Russian empire and the Soviet Union, determining an indigenous population as a special legal category. I then analyse how different kinds of indigenousness were produced and why some communities became 'indigenous', while others did not. Tracing the on-going construction of indigenousness and associated discourses in Russia, I introduce the legal definition of indigenous people, analysing two main criteria which differ in Russia from international understanding: the criterion of ethnicity and the criterion of population numbers. In order to understand why of the 26 recognised indigenous peoples in the USSR became 45 in the Russian Federation, I analyse the contested meaning of indigenousness taking into account geographical, demographic, cultural aspects and political circumstances. I argue that in the current situation there are strong reasons in Russian legislation that render the adoption of international legislation impossible, as we see on the example of the ILO convention 169 or the draft UN Declaration on indigenous rights.
Evolving Protection of Minority Groups: Global Challenges and the Role of International Jurisprudence
Authors: Pentassuglia Gaetano
Published: July 2010

This article explores the role of judicial discourse in articulating and accommodating minority claims under international law. It identifies four major movements in the field of minority protection and argues that, while the era of specialised standard-setting on minority groups seems to be largely over, international jurisprudence holds the promise of a wider and deeper (re-)assessment of minority issues within the human rights canon.
The ECJ's 'Hard' Control over Compliance with International Environmental Law: Its Procedural and Substantive Aspects
Authors: Shigeta Yasuhiro
Published: July 2010

This study shows that the ECJ, while not directly applying and interpreting environmental treaties, exercises procedurally and substantively 'hard' control over compliance with EC legislation implementing those treaties, in the fields of nature conservation and hazardous waste management, on certain conditions and within certain limits. This study also shows that the ECJ's acknowledgment of its exclusive jurisdiction on the marine environment as seen in the 2006 MOX Plant case has contradictory effect on its substantively 'hard' control: such acknowledgment, although being a plus factor where there is no Community measure, becomes a minus factor since it in practice means that there already exist Community measures. Although the above observations are also instructive to other international judiciaries' study, structural and situational differences should be considered.
ICSID Arbitration and the Importance of Public Accountability of a Private Judicature – A Roman Law Perspective
Authors: Sourgens Frederic Gilles
Published: July 2010

This article explores the problems of public accountability in current investment law practice. These problems arise from the private interpretation of international investment treaty and customary law in arbitration. It analyses these problems through the historical lens of Roman law and the Roman law tradition in international law. It suggests a Praetorian system of international accountability and explores the remarkable similarities between current investment arbitration and classical Roman civil procedure.
The Scandal of Enlightenment and the Birth of Disciplines: Is International Law a Science?
Authors: Singh Prabhakar
Published: July 2010

Today’s mainstream international law scholarship (MILS) is concerned primarily with the issue of its scientificity. This brings us to the larger epistemological questions of linear modernity, narratives of circular progress, role of colonisation and rejection of pre-science. International law is not a self-contained regime as it draws insights from all the other disciplines that were born after the Enlightenment. This article makes a psychological investigation using Nandy’s psycho-political framework under the third world approaches to international law (TWAIL). It also sees, as a case in point, the invasion of modernity via late capitalism into tribal life as modernity’s apology for the “third” disenchantment. International Law’s evolutionary scientificity, therefore, has been examined through psychology and mythology in the post-colonial world.
The Unsolved Riddle of International Constitutionalism
Authors: de la Rasilla del Moral Ignacio
Published: July 2010

The extremely diverse contributions present in the volume edited by Nicholas Tsagourias, Transnational Constitutionalism: International Law and European Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 377) are contextualized through an exploration of some of the different strands of international legal doctrine that have been making use of the constitutionalist vernacular in recent years. These strands include among others, the growth in European Union-related constitutionalist discourse and the emergence of a transnational comparative legal realm at the cross-roads of the European and the international spheres; the historical lineage and the contemporary appeal of the constitutional vernacular in the field of international organizations; and the phenomenon of the fragmentation of international law along with the upholding, in reaction to that fragmentation, of a hierarchy of international legal norms. It also includes an examination of the emergence of alternative vocabularies that sustain a “fragmented/societal” model of constitutionalism on the basis of systems-theory as well as an examination of a constitutionalist value ridden perspective of the international legal order that, in mirroring recent developments, attempts to “restate” a classic teleologically conceived narrative of progress without yet leaving the realm of positivism. This article, which confronts “in fine” the “international community school” with its critics, does not aim to provide a complete deconstructed genealogy of each converging strand of doctrine that one might locate behind the current appeal of constitutionalist talk at the dawn of a post-hegemonic era. Yet it is hoped that it might serve as a reminder of the multifaceted factors that lie behind the contemporary renewal of the international constitutionalist arena and, thus, help to strengthen the latter’s potential as a benchmark for diagnosing the legitimacy deficit(s) of international law.
The Interrogative Model: Historical Inquiry and Explanation
Authors: Brook Eric
Published: July 2010

This article commends Jaakko Hintikka's interrogative model of reasoning as an aid to historiography in relation to historical inquiry and explanation. After an initial discussion of David Hackett Fischer's appeal to the "logic of historical thought" in terms of his overlapping complementary emphases with Hintikka's interrogative model, a critical evaluation is given of Fischer's brief but strong comments regarding the role of why-questions in historical explanation. From there the main part of the article is given over to how the interrogative model provides an account of the nature of explanation in general using Hintikka's recently published work on explanation theory. The theory of explanation that uses the interrogative model is applied to historical explanation and illustrated in the way the interrogative model serves a descriptively-valuable role in historiography by reference to historical inquiry and explanation in Herodotus.
Kant's "Naturalistic" History of Mankind? Some Reservations
Authors: Zammito John
Published: July 2010

Among many important claims, Allen Wood in Kant's Ethical ought proposes that Kant's philosophy of history can be grasped as a "naturalist" approach, grounding human nature in biology. I suggest some reservations. First, I question Kant's conception of biology as (a still emergent) science. Second, I question Kant's extension of his notion of "natural predisposition" to reason and freedom. Third, I question the naturalism of Kant's philosophy of history by suggesting the excessive role providence must play in Kant's account. The upshot is to find Kant's philosophy of history one of the less persuasive elements in his system of thought, despite Wood's energetic effort at a contemporary reconstruction.
Heidegger, Geography, and Politics
Authors: Malpas Jeff
Published: July 2010

It is often argued that there is a connection between certain forms of environmental or place-oriented thinking and conservative or reactionary politics. Frequently, the philosopher Martin Heidegger is taken to exemplify this connection through his own involvement with Nazism. In this essay, I explore the relations between Heidegger’s thought and that of certain other key thinkers, principally the ethologist Jakob von Uexküll, and the geographers Friedrich Ratzel and Paul Vidal de la Blache, as well as with elements of Nazi ideology. While Heidegger, Ratzel and Vidal de la Blache are shown to have a similar commitment to a holistic conception of the relation between human being and the world, and to also give priority to ideas of geographic space, or, as we may also say, to place, this is shown to run counter to the essentially subjectivist and biologically determinist position that is associated with Nazi thinking on these matters, and that can also be seen as a key element in the work of von Uexküll. It is argued that the clarification of these issues is not only important for matters of intellectual history alone, but also to ongoing discussions about the role and significance of place. Given the influence of geographical considerations on contemporary historiography, as well as in a number of other disciplines, and given also the role played by Ratzel and Vidal de la Blache, as well as Heidegger, in the rise of such ‘place-oriented’ thinking, the exploration and clarification of the differences at issue here is especially important.
A Problem of our own Making: Roth on Historical Explanation
Authors: Zammito John H.
Published: July 2010

Roth claims that in constituting the sorts of events they want to connect, historians conceive matters that may not correlate with any inventory of elements eligible for admission by natural science. Given “the liabilities incurred by the very questions historians choose to ask,” the question of historical explanation is a problem of our own making. “Previous challenges to the epistemic legitimacy of historical explanations lose their point,” for no one can ask what kind of science or what kind of explanation history is, since it is none! This is, unsurprisingly, an unacceptable outcome for me. A case can be made for intersubjective assertability of a historical interpretation and the contestation of it – however tentatively, fallibly, partially – without a complete collapse into the aesthetics of form or the politics of the formulator. The task of the philosophy of history is to work out the reconciliation of the performative with the constative in historical writing and in historical appraisal.
Towards a Philosophy of the History of Thought?
Authors: Kuukkanen Jouni-Matti
Published: July 2010

There are a large number of disciplines that are interested in the theoretical aspects of the history of thought. Their perspectives and subjects may vary, but fundamentally they have a common research interest: the history of human thinking and its products. Despite this, they are studied in relative isolation. I argue that having different subjects as specific objects of research, such as political or scientific thinking, is not a valid justification for the separation. I propose the formation of a new integrated field of study, the philosophy of the history of thought. Its most fundamental questions can be taken to be: 1) What is the basic theoretical unit in the history of thought? 2) How does change take place and how can it be described? 3) What kind of reasons are there for change? Why is there a change in a particular case? The existing confusions around the commitments and basic vocabulary used in contemporary historiography makes the establishment of this field important. Recognizing that there is such a discipline is necessary in order to enable concentration on the fundamental theoretical issues. It is likely that progress on theoretical questions and better awareness of the implicit commitments would have a positive impact on historical practice.
Jesus in South Africa—Lost in Translation?
Authors: Smit Dirkie , Mouton Elna
Published: July 2010

Within South African circles, Jesus is seen, interpreted, and understood in diverse and complex ways. It is almost impossible to provide any representative overview of these many ways in which the message concerning his person and work has been and still is being appropriated and claimed in South African churches and communities. This paper briefly surveys four of the dominant discourses about Jesus in contemporary South African society; namely, Jesus in the popular news and newspaper debates, academic circles and scholarship, the worship and spirituality of congregations and believers, and public opinion concerning social and political life. In all cases, major trends are pointed out, which raises the question of whether these developments perhaps involve forms of betrayal, and ways in which the figure and message of Jesus may be lost in these diverse forms of translation.
Is Not All Contextual Understanding of the Gospel Syncretism?
Authors: Vroom Hendrik
Published: July 2010

This critical question includes the ideas: 1) that the right understanding of the gospel is pure and should be without influence of other worldview traditions or cultures; 2) the rejection of all forms of syncretism as illegitimate; 3) that some have the authority to judge between good and wrong understandings of the gospel. The article rejects both the idea that only one interpretation of the gospel is legitimate, and the idea that it is impossible to apply criteria for good and wrong contextualization; and so develops an argument in favor of a 'weak' form of syncretism that is plausible in both the tradition and the context, and understandable by the hearers of the Word.
Czech Perspectives on Buddhism, 1860–1989
Authors: Rozehnalová Jana
Published: July 2010

The article discusses the development of concepts of Buddhism in Czech culture from the end of the nineteenth century until 1989. The analysis is based on scholarly contributions but also looks at a number of popular works written by Czech authors. Its main intention is to trace the background of particular views on Buddhism and its interpretations within the changing contexts of philosophical and political interests.
The Mobilization of Religion in the EU (1976–2007): From "Blindness to Religion" to the Anchoring of Religious Norms in the EU
Authors: Grötsch Florian
Published: July 2010

This article argues that in the European Union (EU) we can observe a process of changing attention for religion and a change in the mobilization of religion. In focusing the analysis on how religion appears in legislation texts, religion is understood in these texts as a resource that can be mobilized by different actors and in different notions. In order to understand the process of mobilization, in a first step the article illustrates the historical frameworks that are formed by national and international laws on religion, as well as their legacy. In a second step the paper discusses the process of mobilization of religion in the EU in three episodes: the first episode (1976) is marked by a lawsuit based on religious freedom and the non-discrimination concerning religion with regard to public servants. The subsequent phase is framed by the so-called "Declaration on the status of churches" (1997) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (2000). Finally, the third episode is marked by the Treaty of Lisbon (2008), of which article 6 (TEU) and article 17 (TFEU) will be reviewed. It is shown that the attention on and the mobilization of religion has changed in the EU from an individually based mobilization to a political involvement.
Islam and the West: Two Dialectical Fantasies
Authors: Nirenberg David
Published: July 2010

This article discusses two prominent and seemingly very different schools of thought about the historical relationship of the West to Islam—the first of which we might call a 'clash of civilizations' and the second an 'alliance'—in order to show the common roots of both in Christian dialectics. As an example of the first school, the article focuses on Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 Regensburg lecture on the European synthesis of 'faith' and 'reason,' with its attempt to define Islam as a religion of faith and not of reason. As an example of the second, it focuses on five centuries of European debate over the contribution of Arabic poetry to the birth of a modern and rational European poetic subjectivity. The article suggests that dialectics of inclusion and exclusion are inseparable from each other, and concludes by pointing to some contemporary political implications of this inseparability.
Roman Catholicism and Religious Pluralities in Portuguese (Iberian) History
Authors: Dix Steffen
Published: July 2010

The religious history of Portugal is usually told as the history of a monolithic Catholic belief-system that excludes other religious options. Contrasting this tendency, there is also a political—anticlerical—construction that regards the Catholic tradition as the origin of economic, intellectual, or even ethical backwardness. Taken together, these presuppositions make it difficult to provide an impartial description of the religious situation in Portugal, both contemporary and historical. The present article intends to challenge those theological and political agendas and to replace their historical narratives with a more pluralistic picture of religion in Portugal.
Western Religion and the Self-Canceling of Modernity
Authors: Benavides Gustavo
Published: July 2010

The extreme character of western modernity is the result of the interaction of two contradictory processes. On the one hand, the cultivation of interiority, reflexivity, and thus of subjective freedom, which antedates Christianity, and which is also found in other cultures, but which Christianity intensified by equating religion with 'faith.' On the other, the need to assert one's freedom against the attempts on the part of a church, which, while promoting the exploration of the sinful subjectivity of all Christians—understood primarily as believers—sought to control all of reality, external and internal. While the emergence of a reflexive, tolerant self has led many in the West to the abandonment of its traditional institutional religion, that same tolerant reflexivity renders difficult dealing with the demands of groups—Christian and non-Christian—that seek to abolish modernity.
Political Church, Procedural Europe, and the Creation of the Islamic Other
Authors: Mavelli Luca
Published: July 2010

Taking the cue from the controversial speech of Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in 2006, this paper explores the connection between the apparently divergent positions taken by the Catholic Church and the European secular establishment on the question of European identity and Islam. The argument is advanced that the proceduralism of the European secular establishment contributes to breed its nemesis, a conservative politicised church, but also converges with it in identifying Islam as 'the Other.' It is thus asked whether a critical valorisation of Europe's emotional attachments may not actually strengthen its capacity to embrace the 'difference' represented by Islam.
Templeisation: Continuity and Change of Hindu Traditions in Diaspora
Authors: Baumann Martin
Published: July 2010

Religions that are involved in processes of migration face a double challenge: they need to adapt to the new environment due to the different socio-cultural and legal setting; at the same time, a faithful maintenance of ritual practice, religious concepts, worldview, and norms is a prerequisite for the continuation of the very tradition, warding off assimilation. Recent scholarship in social and cultural studies subsumed these processes under the newly 'discovered' term of diaspora. This article employs the term to analyse aspects of religious dynamics caused by constraints of living home away from home. We adopt the neologism “templeisation” introduced by Vasudha Narayanan studying Hindu immigrants from India in the USA, in order to scrutinise incipient changes among Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka in continental Europe. Templeisation points to a decisive shift of religious observance and ritual practice from the home to the temple, accompanied by a shift in authority away from women and mothers to men and priests. Are these shifts also observable for the Tamil Hindu diaspora in Germany and Switzerland?
From Religion to Spirituality—Megatrend in Contemporary Society or Methodological Artefact? A Contribution to the Secularization Debate from Psychology of Religion
Authors: Popp-Baier Ulrike
Published: July 2010

After a short discussion of important issues concerning the secularization debate and the three meta-narratives involved in this debate (decline, transformation, rise), the following question is addressed: in modern societies, has 'religion' given way to 'spirituality' on the individual level? After a critique of different conceptualizations of spirituality for empirical research and a sample discussion of survey data (results of the European Values Study for the Netherlands between 1980 and 2000), the answer is negative. The suggestion is that spirituality appears as a megatrend in the mass media marketing commodities and in the publications of social scientists trying to attract a broader audience. But the so-called spiritual trend at the level of individual 'religious' orientations is the result of a questionable terminological construction or a questionable interpretation of survey data or arises from a combination of the two.
Max Yergan, Marxism and Mission during the Interwar Era
Authors: Anthony David Henry
Published: July 2010

From 1922 through 1936 Max Yergan, an African-American graduate of historically Black Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina represented the North American YMCA in South Africa through the auspices of the Student Christian Association. A student secretary since his sophomore year in 1911, with Indian and East African experience in World War One, Yergan's star rose sufficiently to permit him entry into the racially challenging South Africa field after a protracted campaign waged on his behalf by such interfaith luminaries as Gold Coast proto nationalist J.E.K. Aggrey and the formidable Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois. Arriving on the eve of the Great Rand Mine Strike of 1922, Yergan's South African years were punctuated by political concerns.

Entering the country as an Evangelical Pan-Africanist influenced by the social gospel thrust of late nineteenth and early twentieth century American Protestantism that reached the YMCA and other faith-friendly but nondenominational organizations, Yergan became favorably disposed to Marxist and Marxist-Leninist doctrine in the course of his South African posting. Against the backdrop of the labor agitation of the post World War One era and the expansion and transformation of the South African Communist Party that occurred during the mid to late nineteen twenties, Yergan's response to what he termed "the appeal of Communism" made him an avatar of a liberation theology fusing Marxist revolution and Christianity. This paper details some of the trajectory of that momentous and profound personal evolution.
The Catholic Church's Role in the Disintegration of the Spanish Colonial Empire. The Case of the Viceroyalty of New Granada
Authors: Bidegain Ana Maria
Published: July 2010

This article analyzes aspects of the complex process that led to independence in the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada. It focuses on the role of religion and of social actors that have not been sufficiently taken into account in traditional historiography. The latter has paid much attention to political and economic aspects, but has disregarded other important changes that propelled the independence process, profound socio-cultural transformations and events that indicate the complexity of the process. First of all, this was not just a revolution from above and the historical periodization has to be reworked as a result of the Borbonic Reforms, with their leaning toward enlightenment. We must not consider the military uprisings as the starting point of the emancipation from the Spanish crown. Even though the colonial societies did not follow the same path as the European bourgeois revolutions with their proposed liberal perspectives, important changes did indeed happen, in which all social groups were implicated. From both the religious and particularly the women's historical perspective we can see the important transformations that took place. Examples are provided of how women of the popular classes triggered the process. Likewise, women amongst the educated elite, large sectors of the Creole clergy and some educational institutions were important agents of the ideological changes, by propagating new ideas. All these, in turn, paved the way for the further diversification of the ideological and religious landscape of Latin America during the independence period.
'Gagner les Nations à Jésus': Entreprises Missionnaires et Guerre Spirituelle en Afrique
Authors: Fancello Sandra
Published: July 2010

Depuis les Indépendances africaines des années 1960, et le régime d'alliance entre des Églises « officielles » et les Partis uniques, jusqu'au nouveau régime de libéralisation religieuse des années 1990 initié par les Conférences nationales, les entreprises missionnaires, issues de l'époque coloniale, mais aussi les nouvelles Missions internationales, ont à négocier leur rapport avec le pouvoir politique. Cette contribution interroge l'évolution contemporaine de la notion « d'Église missionnaire » dans ses rapports complexes avec certaines formes de nationalisme religieux, et l'extension dans ce contexte du sens même de la « mission » comme régénération morale de la nation.