bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Ecology of Threat Detection and Precautionary Response from the Perspectives of Evolutionary Psychology, Cognitive Science and Historiography: The Case of the Roman Cults of Mithras
Authors: Martin Luther H.
Published: February 2014

Abstract

“Cognitive historiography” employs the cognitive sciences, and their frame of evolutionary theory, to help explicate the complexities of historical data. Employing evidence for an evolved “hazard protection system” amongHomosapiens, Martin argues that religion is a “natural security system” for detecting signs of potential danger in the environment and for developing precautionary responses to them, especially through ritual. He supports this argument with the historical example of Roman Mithraism. In face of a generalized anxiety, specifically evoked by a Hellenistic horror in face of socio-political and cosmic vastness, he shows that the Mithraic ritual system offered initiates both a predictably structured communal context, which provided an alternative to the socio-political perplexities of empire, as well as a comprehensible, cognitively mapped world, which afforded an alternative to the incomprehensible expanse of the cosmos consequent upon the Ptolematic revolution.
False Lives, False Martyrs: “Pseudo-Pionius” and the Redating of the Martyrdom of Polycarp
Authors: Hoover Jesse
Published: February 2014

Abstract

The final form of the Martyrdom of Polycarp has often been dated to the late fourth century on the basis of an alleged link between the “Pionius” who edited its final colophon and the anonymous author of a clearly apocryphal Life of Polycarp. In this article, I argue that the correlation between these two texts is problematic at best and should be discarded in light of recent scholarship. To replace this outdated construct, I submit that the variant Moscow colophon manuscript tradition, generally considered the latest edition of the text, betrays traces of an earlier polemical milieu that may allow us to redate the colophon to the third or early fourth century.
“Jerome and Paulinian, Brothers”
Authors: Kim Young Richard
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This article considers the relationship between Jerome and his much younger brother Paulinian, who unfortunately did not write anything that has survived. Nevertheless, through Jerome’s testimony we can extrapolate details of Paulinian’s life, and we can surmise certain aspects about their relationship. The older sibling was a prolific author who was famously involved in very public disputes in the late fourth century, while the younger, it seemed, was content to pursue the monastic life in relative anonymity. However, because of Paulinian’s close relationship and proximity to his brother, he became deeply involved in the so-called Origenist Controversy of the late fourth century, especially because of his improper ordination at the hands of Epiphanius of Cyprus.
The Discovery and Interpretation of the Flavia Sophe Inscription: New Results
Authors: Snyder H. Gregory
Published: February 2014

Abstract

New archival material relating to the discovery of the Flavia Sophe inscription is presented and arguments made that the inscription was discovered in situ. Careful attention to the epigraphical, palaeographical, and metrical aspects of the poem, as well as its use of nuptial imagery lead to new proposals for reconstructions. Arguments for a date in the second century are re-examined and strengthened. The language of the inscription is placed within the context of other Greek funeral epigrams to show that the writer of the epigram was well aware of the conventions Hellenistic funeral poetry and that the poem artfully subverts many of these conventions. And finally, I claim that for this group of Christians, the “bridal chamber ritual” should be understood as a mortuary rite.
Marcellus of Ancyra and Priscillian of Avila: Their Theologies and Creeds
Authors: Toom Tarmo
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This article studies the two earliest witnesses to the Apostles’ Creed which have often been regarded with suspicion because they were written by “heretical” bishop-theologians Marcellus of Ancyra and Priscillian of Avila. Assessing the thought of Marcellus and Priscillian in the light of their authentic treatises, it is contended that their respective understandings of Trinitarian theology cannot be identified with modalist monarchianism. Consequently, their creeds should not be regarded as smoke screen for their allegedly deviant doctrines. Rather, these should be regarded as the first extant evidence for the declaratory Apostles’ Creed.
Spirituality and Extraordinary Experiences: Methodological Remarks and Some Empirical Findings
Authors: Mayer Gerhard A.
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This article is based on empirical data gathered in two qualitative field studies of contemporary Western shamans and practising magicians (occultists) in German speaking countries. It emphasizes the importance of extraordinary experiences in the adoption of heterodox worldviews. The findings indicate that such experiences play a decisive role in the adoption of religious and/or spiritual beliefs as well as in individual conceptualization of spirituality. Some methodological considerations in the investigation of extraordinary experiences and their relation to assumed paranormal phenomena are mentioned. A particular problem is that these experiences often seem to contradict the orthodox, commonly accepted scientific worldview. Thus researchers who want to collect information about religious beliefs and spiritual experiences have to allow for participants’ possible fear of stigmatization. An empirical phenomenological approach, following the principle of openness (Hoffmann-Riehm) and the method of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss), seems apposite. In addition to the aforementioned methodological issues the article presents data on aspects of the lived spirituality of contemporary shamans and practising magicians as an example of secondary analysis of interview data.
Holiday Instead of Holy Day? A Qualitative Inquiry on the Spiritual Quality of People’s Activities on Sunday
Authors: Riegel Ulrich
Published: February 2014

Abstract

Daily routine on Sunday is changing. Formerly a day of religious contemplation, Sunday seems to be a day of rest within the family. Does this change in activities done on a typical Sunday imply an end of spiritual quality? To answer this question this paper conceptualizes spirituality as experience of connectedness to some greater reality which is regarded as important and meaningful. Four options are possible concerning this greater reality: a transcendent reality, nature or cosmos, mankind, or the individual’s self. The data has been collected by semi-structured interview and analyzed by qualitative content analysis. 148 individuals did take part in these interviews (57% females, age range: 7 to 59; 64% Catholics and 22% Protestants). The findings point at Sunday spent with family. Further on we could identify activities representing all four types of spirituality. Together these examples point at the conclusion that Sunday still is a special day within the week. Its activities offer spiritual quality, but it is the individual to reassure it.
Spiritual Experiences: A Quantitative-Phenomenological Approach
Authors: Wildman Wesley J.
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This essay concerns the specific benefits for empirical theology of hybrid quantitative-phenomenological approaches to the scientific study of spiritual experiences. These benefits are conveyed through the consideration of several quantitative techniques newly emerging at the current time. One such technique is the generation of multi-dimensional profiles of individual spirituality, which helps manage the semantic vagueness surrounding the word “spirituality” and thereby yields empirically more robust constructs for use in scientific research studies. Another technique is the creation of quantitative phenomenological signatures of recalled spiritual experiences that penetrate as deeply as possible into the neuropsychological hierarchy of structures, subject to what can be made accessible to human conscious awareness. By hewing close to the shared biological nature of our species’ emotional and cognitive capacities, this type of quantitative phenomenology generates a number of breakthroughs in the scientific study of spiritual experiences. These breakthroughs apply to areas such as developing neuropsychological models of spiritual experiences, studying spiritual experiences cross-culturally, stabilizing descriptive classifications of spiritual experiences, and rendering more exact the experimental study of spiritual experiences. For theologians, there can be no question of the scientific study of spiritual experiences proving or disproving extant theological interpretations. Rather, the theological payoff of quantifying spirituality is the generation of constraints that can render characteristically normative theological interpretations more and less plausible. This underlines the fundamental contention of this essay: that empirical theology requires a partnership in which the importance of distinctively theological questions is respected and the value of empirically derived constraints is prized.
Dissociation in Religion and Spirituality: God Images and Religious Rituals in the Context of Dissociative Experiences among a Sample of German Adults
Authors: Demmrich Sarah , Wolfradt Uwe , Domsgen Michael
Published: February 2014

Abstract

Following Schumaker’s (1995) theory that dissociation is induced by religious rituals, this study assesses the relation between religious ritual and depersonalization, including the influence of the God image on this relation. The Scale for Assessment of Depersonalization Experiences (Wolfradt, 2003), the Religious Ritual Scale (Maranell, 1974) and the God Image Inventory (Lawrence, 1997) were administered to 156 German adults from different religious groups (traditional churches, New Religious Movements [NRMs], Bahá’i). The results show an increased experience of depersonalization when rituals are valued but not performed frequently. Members of NRMs and the Bahá’i religion perform rituals more often, but do not cherish them more and also do not experience depersonalization more often. A non-accepting God image was connected with depersonalization. Finally, a positive God image can be regarded as a protective factor which weakens the relation between importance of ritual and experience of depersonalization.
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid) Case Law Review
Authors: Fouret Julien , Khayat Dany
Published: February 2014

Abstract

The purpose of the ICSID case law review is to present and discuss all awards, decisions and orders published by ICSID arbitral tribunals during a given period of time. This ICSID case law review covers a selection of awards, decisions and orders published during the second, third and fourth trimester of 2012 with the analysis of a total of six awards, eleven decisions and one order.
Navigating Through Narrow Jurisdictional Straits: The Philippines – PRC South China Sea Dispute and UNCLOS
Authors: Zimmermann Andreas , Bäumler Jelena
Published: February 2014

Abstract

In January 2013 the Philippines invoked the dispute settlement system under UNCLOS in order to resolve its long-standing dispute with the People’s Republic of China over the South China Sea and more specifically concerning Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands. The arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII UNCLOS, without the PRC taking part in the proceedings as of yet, faces a challenging task in deciding whether or not it has jurisdiction over the case submitted by the Philippines. This article therefore examines the dispute settlement system of UNCLOS with regard to the jurisdiction of the tribunal in the pending Philippines – PRC South China Sea dispute. While at first glance UNCLOS appears to provide for a comprehensive system of compulsory jurisdiction, a number of exceptions, either applicable ipso facto or by virtue of unilateral declarations made at the time of signature or ratification of UNCLOS, leave only a thin layer of jurisdictional grounds, if any at all, for the arbitral tribunal to deal with and eventually decide the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and the PRC. This implies that the arbitral tribunal is facing intriguing legal questions in this highly political procedure, the relevance of which extends far beyond the case at hand.
Dispute Settlement in the Law of the Sea: Survey for 2012
Authors: Churchill Robin
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This is the latest in a series of annual surveys reviewing dispute settlement in the law of the sea, both under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and outside the framework of the Convention. The main developments during 2012 were the delivery of judgments by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in the Bangladesh/Myanmar case and by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Nicaragua/Colombia case, both concerned with maritime boundary delimitation; and the institution of Annex VII arbitration by Argentina against Ghana relating to the arrest of a State-owned vessel and the subsequent order of provisional measures by the ITLOS. These and other developments are reviewed in detail below.
Climate-induced Displacement in Bangladesh: Recognition and Protection under International Law
Authors: Naser Mostafa Mahmud
Published: February 2014

Climate change and human migration are two cross-cutting issues that demand immediate and appropriate responses from both international and national authorities. This article deals with a number of complex issues under international environmental law, human rights law and migration and refugee law, which have important ramifications for the protection of climate-induced displacement in Bangladesh. It examines these legal frameworks to assess how appropriate they are in regulating climate-induced displacement and underscores current gaps or limitations within the international legal system for effective recognition and protection of climate change migrants. The development of ‘soft guidelines’ suggested in this study would establish an international framework for the specific recognition, treatment and protection of climate change displaced persons and fill the legal gaps with the specificity required by states and communities.
Mapuche Land Claims: Environmental Protest, Legal Discrimination and Customary Rights
Authors: Akhtar Zia
Published: February 2014

The Mapuche are an Indian tribe spread over Chile and Argentina who have suffered from the appropriation of their lands by the state. The latest court case decided in June 2011 by the Supreme Court of Santiago adjudged under the National Security Act 1984 enforced the anti-terrorism law against the protestors who had been demanding environmental rights. This draconian legislation was drafted under martial law and is part of a framework that was introduced in an emergency imposed between 1972–1998 in Chile. It led to the suppression of protest on environmental rights and the disenfranchisement of the Mapuche. The tribe has been protesting against the breach of accords signed with the government and the management of their lands. It has led to court cases that have not yet served a precedence that the tribe can rely on for the preservation of their lands. As the land based protest gathers momentum the enforcement of the anti-terrorist law is causing grave concern due to its breach of fundamental rights of due process. It invites an examination of whether the Chilean state is breaching the international covenants and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007. In order for the human rights of the Mapuche to be respected the Chilean government has to repeal the laws that were enacted under the dictatorship, and furthermore there has to be a recognition of the customs and legal pluralism that will allow an alternative dispute mechanism which restores the cultural framework of the indigenous people.
Beyond the Walls of Paper. Undocumented Migrants, the Border and Human Rights
Authors: Błuś Anna
Published: February 2014

Abstract

In the European Union alone, there are currently approximately 5.5 million migrants with an irregular immigration status. Despite its promise of universality, international human rights law does not protect migrants, particularly those in irregular situations, to the same extent as it protects citizens. This paper examines state policies towards irregular migration and approaches to issues faced by irregular migrants, from No Borders to solidarity, arguing that to effectively address these pressing concerns, it is necessary to look beyond the law and the concept of human rights and to challenge the notion of the border. Hannah Arendt’s nexus between rights and political membership expressed in the concept of the ‘right to have rights’ is considered in relation to today’s undocumented migrants. Different manifestations of migrant activism are also analysed, demonstrating that undocumented migrants have a voice and have been using it to contest the state-dependent notions of citizenship and membership.
A maturing manifesto: The constitutionalisation of children’s rights in South African jurisprudence 2007-2012
Authors: Sloth-Nielsen Julia , Kruuse Helen
Published: February 2014

This article represents the next in a series of five-year overviews of children’s rights in the courts in South Africa. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Welfare of Children as a point of departure, the study suggests that it is in the public sphere that children’s rights have had their most impact in the period under review. The article highlights eight areas of distinction in this five-year period: these include judicial approval of resource mobilisation for the fulfilment of children’s rights, emphasis on the quality of and standards in education; the development of innovative remedies to deal with unreasonable state measures affecting children, and an increasing focus on the right to dignity of the child. The authors conclude that the scope of the cases cited points to the growing insertion of children’s rights considerations in increasingly diverse areas of legal interaction. Furthermore, the authors posit that the CRC and ACRWC – together with non-binding sources of international law – have substantively informed and enriched the jurisprudence of South African courts.
Children’s Rights and Theories of Rights
Authors: Ross Hamish
Published: February 2014

This essay revisits themes touched upon in an influential debate on the nature of rights between two of the leading jurists of the past century – H. L. A. Hart and Neil MacCormick. Consideration is given to how MacCormick uses children’s rights as a basis for a critique of Hart’s version of the will theory of rights towards support of MacCormick’s version of the rival interest theory of rights. While MacCormick argues, in some respects persuasively, that children’s rights and ‘rights’ apparently grounded in the criminal law present significant challenges to Hart’s version of the will theory of rights, these challenges – including the notion that Hartian will theory, in a sense, ‘disenfranchises’ children – are shown to have less force in the light of careful reassessment. It is also maintained that MacCormick’s version of the interest theory is itself significantly challenged by difficulties, including possible conflicts of interest, inherent in practical mechanisms – such as those enabling adult representatives to act on behalf of children – which the law provides to ensure that children’s rights may be properly exercised.
South-South Transnational Spaces of Conquest: Afro-Brazilian Pentecostalism, Feitiçaria and the Reproductive Domain in Urban Mozambique
Authors: van de Kamp Linda
Published: February 2014

Abstract

Brazilian Pentecostals are establishing new transnational Christian connections in Africa. Focusing on Mozambique, this paper examines the specific logic of cultural mixing that is emerging in the South-South contact of African and Brazilian Pentecostals. This South-South connection is based on a particular framing of the transatlantic history in Afro-Brazilian concepts of evil, such as macumba and feitiçaria. The South-South transnational features of Afro-Brazilian Pentecostalism enhance a need to spiritually scrutinize, combat and transcend aspects of ‘African culture’ in the reproductive sphere of marriage, sexuality, family, money and work. Upwardly mobile Mozambican women, who are conquering new cultural positions, are finding this South-South transnational Pentecostal space attractive. Afro-Brazilian Pentecostalism and upwardly mobile women find and reinforce each other in their capacities to challenge and move frontiers in the national sphere around reproductive issues. However, the powerful atmosphere of conquest that South-South Pentecostalism consequently creates has to be carefully manoeuvred by the women to not let their accusations of feitiçaria rise against themselves.
Études du Corpus des inscriptions du Campā. V. The Short Foundation Inscriptions of Prakāśadharman-Vikrāntavarman, King of Campā
Authors: Goodall Dominic , Griffiths Arlo
Published: February 2014

The string of territories called Campā, lying in what is today Vietnam, has yielded about two hundred and fifty inscriptions spanning over ten centuries, from ca. 400 well into the fifteenth century ce. These inscriptions have not yet drawn much attention from the point of view of the shared religious history of South and Southeast Asia. In the present contribution, we focus on a group of seven short Sanskrit inscriptions issued by a king named Prakāśadharman-Vikrāntavarman who ruled in the seventh century. A careful reading of these texts, in parallel with related Sanskrit texts from South Asia, reveals something of the intellectual and religious cosmopolis of which the poets behind these inscriptions were a part, suggesting for instance that tantric Śaiva scriptures had reached Campā by the late seventh century.
Copyright Issues Arising from Tweets and Re-tweets: A Jordanian Prospective
Authors: Madi Ramzi
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the copyright issues arising from tweets and re-tweets from a Jordanian prospective. While this is not a comparative study, the author refers in brief to other jurisdictions, in particular to the US Copyright Act and the United Kingdom Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, in addition to selected cases from the above-mentioned jurisdictions. This article addresses the following three main questions. The first issue questions whether the 140-character limit enjoys copyright protection? And, therefore, would a re-tweet constitute copyright infringement? The second issue concerns whether posting an original image on a Twitter post can be considered a copyright infringement. The final issue to be discussed in this article is whether reposting a Tweet constitutes fair dealing.
The Status of Leibniz’ Medical Experiments
Authors: Rey Anne-Lise
Published: February 2014

This paper examines the status of medical experiments using the Leibnizian conception of knowledge. The aim is to consider whether experimentation is a “perceptive foretaste” or a real condition for the advancement of knowledge. To this end I argue, first, that acting on bodies could be a way to understand them and, second, I establish a place for medical experiments in the field of learning. In these ways, I identify a “provisional empiricism” in Leibniz’ medical texts.
Whytt and the Idea of Power
Authors: Etchegaray Claire
Published: February 2014

In An Essay on the Vital and Involuntary Motions of Animals, Robert Whytt maintained that the muscular motions that perform the natural functions of the organism are caused by an immaterial power. Here we consider to what extent the philosophical criticism of power urged by Locke and Hume may jeopardize his thesis, how his response mobilizes the resources of the Scottish experimental theism and whether he makes an original use of such resources. First, we examine various pieces of experimental evidence from which Whytt infers the need to evoke this power, before showing how they prompt him to stand by the immaterial power in the face of the empiricist criticisms. Following this, we explore the link Whytt makes between power and agency, in particular comparing his thought with Locke’s. Lastly, we examine his work in the light of Hume’s criticism regarding the question of whether a power may be felt.
Experiment, Observation, Self-observation
Authors: Zelle Carsten
Published: February 2014

This article aims to analyze the mechanisms of empirical data collection in medicine and psychology in the early Enlightenment by means of experiment, observation and self-observation, while associating them with their discursive forms of representation; namely, the case narrative. The combination of empirical and discursive anthropo-techniques leads to explanations on the anthropoietics of the Enlightenment; i.e., the question of how the habitus of man was shaped around 1750. Texts of four German ‘reasonable physicians’ will be considered: Friedrich Hoffmann (1660–1742), Johann Gottlieb Krüger (1715–1759), Andreas Elias Büchner (1701–1769) and Johann August Unzer (1727–1799).
Observations on Four Bronze Belts from the Alaverdi Area, Armenia
Authors: Castelluccia Manuel
Published: February 2014

The goal of the present study is an analysis, accompanied by new drawings, of four bronze belts, which were recovered by the famous French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan in the area, around the modern town of Alaverdi, today part of the northeastern Armenian province of Lori, and which are currently stored in the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Compromising Islam with Empire: Bureaucracy and Class in Safavid Iran
Authors: Grigoriadis Theocharis N.
Published: February 2014

Socio-economic justice lies in the normative core of Islam. The concepts of fard-al-kifāyah and zakāh reveal its commitment to protect the poor from the arbitrariness of the rich and treat the state as an institution that maximises collective welfare. The political economy of Safavid Iran indicates that the establishment of Islam as Iran’s state religion facilitated the empire’s administrative modernisation, economic development and class formation. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I argue that religion did not only offer legitimacy grounds to the Safavid government. It also provided institutional incentives that transformed clerics into intermediaries between people and the Imperial Court, improved fiscal capacity and increased general trust toward the central government.
Addiction and Spiritual Transformation. An Empirical Study on Narratives of Recovering Addicts’ Conversion Testimonies in Dutch and Serbian Contexts
Authors: Sremac Srdjan , Ganzevoort R. Ruard
Published: February 2014

The article examines how recovering drug addicts employ testimonies of conversion and addiction to develop and sustain personal identity and create meaning from varied experiences in life. Drawing on 31 autobiographies of recovering drug addicts we analyze conversion and addiction testimonies in two European contexts (Serbia and the Netherlands, including a sample of immigrants). The analysis shows how existing frames of reference and self-understanding are undermined and/or developed. We first describe the substance abuse in participants’ addiction trajectory. Next, we outline the religious aspects and the primary conception of recovering addicts’ conversions as an example of spiritual transformation and narrative change. Moreover, participants select and creatively adapt cultural practices in their testimonies. In many of these examples (mostly in the migrant sample) converts clearly employ elements from their personal and family histories, their ethnic and religious heritages, and their larger cultural and historical context to create a meaningful conversion narrative.
Conceptions of Spirituality among the Dutch Population
Authors: Berghuijs Joantine , Pieper Jos , Bakker Cok
Published: February 2014

This article explores the conceptions of spirituality in a large and representative sample ( N=2313) of the general population in the Netherlands. Spirituality is described mostly in cognitive terms (54%), especially in the form of general references to a transcendent reality (e.g. ‘more between heaven and earth’). Experiential expressions are used in more than a quarter of the descriptions. Important patterns in the descriptions are: spirituality as the transcendent God, spirituality as inwardness, and spirituality as mental health. In the sample, 21% distance themselves from spirituality; among people with a secular outlook this percentage is 35%. We paid special attention to differences in conceptions of spirituality between people inside and outside institutional religious contexts and between people who self-identify as ‘spiritual’ and those who do not.
Why is John the Baptist Used as a Foil for Jesus? Leaps of Faith and Oblique Anti-Judaism in Contemporary Scholarship
Authors: Bermejo-Rubio Fernando
Published: February 2014

Despite the existence of some differences between John the Baptist and Jesus the Galilean, there is no compelling evidence allowing us to infer that they were significantly contrasting characters, even less to postulate any significant opposition between them: the available sources are witnesses to the striking similarities in their messages, their radical personalities, their destinies, and their reception by their contemporaries. The widespread scholarly discourse of a considerable discontinuity between these two preachers of Second Temple Judaism is accordingly unwarranted and unreliable. What is even worse, there are reasons to suspect that the use of John the Baptist as a foil for Jesus might be the last Christian avatar of the centuries-long tendency consisting of contrasting Jesus to Judaism.
On Performatives in Aramaic Documents
Authors: Bhayro Siam
Published: February 2014

This article argues for the presence of performative sentences in early Aramaic documents, giving two examples—one from the Wadi Murabbaʿat divorce document and the other from an Elephantine letter. It is suggested that the use of a compound, consisting of a preposition and a demonstrative pronoun, to reinforce the performative function of the participle, parallels the use of “hereby” in English.
The Syntagma of kl ‘all’ with Indeterminate Plural Nouns in Imperial Aramaic and Western Middle Aramaic
Authors: Stadel Christian
Published: February 2014

This article surveys all occurrences of the noun phrase kl ‘all’ with indeterminate plural nouns in Imperial and Western Middle Aramaic. Taking issue with the assumption that this is an archaic form of the similar determinate construction, the article exemplifies and contrasts their different nuances of meaning. It is suggested that the formal indetermination of the noun phrase marks it as non-specific. As against the construction of kl with indeterminate singular nouns it stresses plurality. The findings have implications for the origin of Imperial Aramaic and for the linguistic dating of Qumran Aramaic texts.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Late Jewish Literary Aramaic
Authors: Kaufman Stephen A.
Published: February 2014

The twentieth-century’s Targum manuscript discoveries made clear that if Neofiti, the Fragment Targums, and the Cairo Geniza fragments were composed in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, then Targum Pseudo-Jonathan was not. In this classic essay, originally written in Hebrew in 1985–1986 and translated here for the first time, Stephen Kaufman worked to describe Pseudo-Jonathan’s dialect. He found that it borrowed from other dialects, but merged them into a single unified dialect appearing not only in Pseudo-Jonathan, but also in several Writings Targums. This essay thus presented the earliest description of Late Jewish Literary Aramaic.
Walter Brueggemann, Prophetic Imagination, and the Productive Science of Homiletics
Authors: Knoke Derek
Published: February 2014

This review asks to what degree Walter Brueggemann locates biblical interpretation within homiletics, particularly where homiletics is defined as a ‘productive science’ – the goal of which is to make or create something. To the degree this is true, biblical interpretation is not determined by an a priori referent, whether that referent be a closed rationality of social scientific description (or historical reconstruction) or whether that referent be a resistant theological ideology which one imposes on the text. Rather, such a hermeneutic – a productive hermeneutic – would be determined by a desired goal or outcome. Homiletics, thus defined, is a means to an end – an end achieved by naming God as an acting subject in the world to bring about said goal or outcome. This review suggests that Brueggemann’s biblical interpretation can be described in this way and that a productive hermeneutic may be both social scientifically viable and beneficial for the church.
Locating Pentecostals at the Hermeneutical Round Table
Authors: Ellington Scott A.
Published: February 2014

Utilizing evangelical, rabbinic, and literary critical hermeneutical methods as dialogue partners, I will suggest in this article five emphases that distinguish a Pentecostal approach to Scripture: (1) Pentecostal readings are narrative rather than propositional. (2) They are dynamic rather than static. (3) They are experience-based. (4) They seek encounter more than understanding. (5) They are pragmatic, emphasizing transformation and application.
Victory in Jesus: Perfectionism, Pentecostal Sanctification, and Luther’s Theology of the Cross
Authors: Courey David
Published: February 2014

This paper examines perfectionist motifs in baptistic Pentecostal notions of sanctification, and asks whether resources to solve this quandary may be found within the tradition itself. Tracing these motifs back to the ‘Finished Work’ theology of William Durham, variations on themes of the Keswick movement are noted. These parallels continue through the institutional period, and recurrence of ‘union with Christ’ and ‘crucifixion with Christ’ tropes are discovered, particularly in the Assemblies of God Pentecostal Evangel. Keswick leader L.E. Maxwell’s classic The Crucified Life provides a direct connection between Pentecostal and Keswick treatments of sanctification. While Pentecostal applications of identification with Christ have led some to draw connections with the Orthodox doctrine of theosis, this paper asserts a closer relationship to Luther’s theology of the cross and offers a means of using resources within the Pentecostal tradition to redefine a non-perfectionist model of sanctification that remains dynamic and cross-centred.
A Review Essay on Amos Yong, Who Is the Holy Spirit? A Walk With the Apostles (Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2011)
Authors: Stronstad Roger
Published: February 2014

This essay offers a critical reading of Amos Yong’s reading of Acts in his Who Is the Holy Spirit? Specific examples are offered where Yong’s theological assessment of the text is not in keeping with the content of the text itself.
The Chinese Empire Encounters the British Empire and Its “Colonial Dependencies”: Melbourne, 1887
Authors: Lake Marilyn
Published: February 2014

Abstract

In 1887 Qing Imperial Commissioners General Wong Yung Ho and U Tsing visited Melbourne as part of an investigative mission to enquire into the treatment of Chinese imperial subjects in Southeast Asia and the Australian colonies. In this article I suggest that the political ramifications of their visit should be understood in the context of the larger imperial and national contestations occurring in the colony of Victoria in the 1880s. White colonial assertions of the rights of self-government — argued in defiance of imperial power both British and Chinese — and Chinese appeals to international law were antagonistic, but mutually constitutive claims. The more Chinese community leaders and the Imperial Commissioners appealed to the primacy of international law, the more strident were white colonial invocations of a newly defined national interest couched in a republican discourse on national sovereignty defined as border protection.
Understanding Others: Cultural Anthropology with Collingwood and Quine
Authors: D’Oro Guiseppina
Published: February 2014

Abstract

On one meaning of the term “historicism” to be a historicist is to be committed to the claim that the human sciences have a methodology of their own that is distinct in kind and not only in degree from that of the natural sciences. In this sense of the term Collingwood certainly was a historicist, for he defended the view that history is an autonomous discipline with a distinctive method and subject matter against the claim for methodological unity in the sciences. On another interpretation historicism is a relativist way of thinking which denies the possibility of universal and fundamental interpretations of historical or cultural phenomena. In the following I argue that at least in this second sense of “historicism” Collingwood was everything but a historicist. Quine, on the contrary, was nothing but a historicist. The goal of the comparison, however, is not to establish just who, on this definition, was or was not a historicist, but to draw a few conclusions about what a commitment to or rejection of historicism in this sense, tells us about the nature of understanding.
Representationalism and Non-representationalism in Historiography
Authors: Kuukkanen Jouni-Matti
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This paper examines how Hayden White and specifically Frank Ankersmit have attempted to develop the representationalist account of historiography. It is notable that both reject the copy theory of representation, but nevertheless commit to the idea that historiography produces representations. I argue that it would have been more advantageous to go yet one step further and reject representationalist language altogether on the level of narratives, as this implies that one is re-presenting a given object in one’s language in some sense. Narratives and other synthesizing expressions, such as colligatory notions, do not have such objects or references in the past itself, and therefore, it would be more appropriate to talk about constructed ‘presentations.’ In the end, I outline a non-representationalist alternative, according to which historiography is a form of discursive and argumentative practice.
Nachman Krochmal and Leopold Zunz: On the Influence of the Moreh nevukhe ha-zeman on the Wissenschaft des Judentums
Authors: Lehnardt Andreas
Published: February 2014

Abstract

The seminal work of Leopold Zunz was deeply influenced by its Eastern European forerunners, especially by Nachman Krochmal and his students. The paper addresses the question whether and how Zunz was influenced by the Moreh nevukhe ha-zeman, Krochmals main work, which has been edited by him, especially with regard to his perception of Aggadah. The article tries to demonstrate that Krochmals observations on Aggadah were stimulated mostly by Azariah de’ Rossi, but they nevertheless left their imprint on Zunz, though indirectly through his followers from Galicia.
‘Muslim Media’ and the Politics of Representation
Authors: Poole Elizabeth
Published: February 2014

This article examines data from a year-long project, ‘Muslims in the European Mediascape’, which explored the production and consumption of diversity issues in the United Kingdom and Germany. Here, I report on the findings from minority (predominantly Muslim) media producers and consumers in the United Kingdom; these findings demonstrate both the ambitions of the producers and the somewhat limited extent to which they are met among audiences. The research reveals a disconnect between producers and their target audiences in terms of the media consumption of those audiences, despite a similarity in their sociopolitical concerns. Perhaps more importantly, an analysis of participant discussions about media practices and life in the United Kingdom reveals more about the politics of representation and belonging in a period of considerable instability and change than it reveals about reported practices.
Anti-Islam Propaganda and Its Effects
Authors: Müller Floris , van Zoonen Liesbet , Hirzalla Fadi
Published: February 2014

In 2008, a short Dutch anti-Islam propaganda movie called Fitna caused global public outrage and a brief media storm. Such attention is generally considered undesirable ‘mediahype’ that increases the number of people that will view the film and thus potentially also its societal impact. In this article, however, we present a theoretical model that suggests that extensive media coverage may, in some cases, actually serve to diminish the impact of anti-Islam propaganda. We demonstrate the validity of this model using an experimental study on the effects of the movie Fitna on non-Muslim viewers. The results show that those viewers who had followed this debate closely were less affected by Fitna. These effects were upheld even when we controlled for their political preferences and educational levels; this suggests that exposure to extensive debate about anti-Islam propaganda may serve to ‘inoculate’ non-Muslim viewers against its fear-based appeal.
What is a Cohesive Community Anyway?
Authors: Holohan Siobhan
Published: February 2014

The perceived failure of minority communities to integrate into mainstream culture and society has been of such concern in recent years that there have been a series of political endeavors to shore up notions of citizenship, inclusion, and (national) identity, indeed about what it means to be British. This paper considers political discourses about the failure of multiculturalism and the subsequent implementation of community cohesion strategies in relation to David Cameron’s recent treatise on muscular liberalism, in order to reflect upon notions of segregation, identity and cohesion in the United Kingdom. Data from the Muslims in the European Mediascape project is used to consider to what extent dominant hegemonic discourses of Muslim communities permeate media production practices. Based on an analysis of interviews with mainstream media producers in the United Kingdom, the key concern of this paper is to explore whether media production practices can be said to reinforce the current form of hegemonic liberalism.
Two Studies in 21st Dynasty ChronologyI: Deconstructing Manetho’s 21st DynastyII: The Datelines of High Priest Menkheperre
Authors: James Peter , Morkot Robert
Published: February 2014

Abstract

There has never been any consensus on the nature, composition and chronology of the “21st Dynasty”. Recent research has produced an ever-increasing multiplicity of rival models, most still relying on the information given in the surviving epitomes of the Hellenistic scholar Manetho. The claim that the regnal years given by “Manetho” for the 21st Dynasty are corroborated by the monuments is completely unjustified and based on circular reasoning. Progress can only be made by completely abandoning reliance on Manetho (a hangover from early 19th century, pre-decipherment, scholarship) once and for all.
Die Sicherung der ethnischen Ordnung: Das Wandbild eines eigenartigen nubischen Streitwagens im Grab des Huy, Vizekönig von Kusch (Neues Reich)Preservation of the Ethnic Order: A Painting of a Curious Nubian Chariot in the Tomb of Huy, Viceroy of Kush (New Kingdom)
Authors: Burmeister Stefan
Published: February 2014

Zusammenfassung

In dem Grab des Huy (TT 40) befindet sich eine Bildszene, die bislang zwar viel beachtet und kommentiert, jedoch nicht eingehend analysiert wurde. Im Gefolge von Hekanefer, des Fürsten von Miam, befindet sich ein Streitwagen, der von einer Frau gefahren und von Ochsen gezogen wird. Beides widerspricht dem in Ägypten üblichen Gebrauch dieses elitären Fahrzeugs. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob es sich hierbei um die reale Darstellung einer nubischen Streitwagennutzung oder um eine propagandistisch verzerrte Fremdvölkerdarstellung handelt. Diese Szene wird aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln untersucht: 1) der Streitwagentechnologie; 2) der Perspektive des ägyptischen Grabherrn Huy; 3) der Perspektive des nubischen Fürsten Hekanefer. Eine detaillierte Analyse der Bildszene zeigt, dass sie höchstwahrscheinlich einen realen Aufzug abbildet; hierbei handelt es sich jedoch eindeutig um eine absichtsvolle Inszenierung von ägyptischer Seite, mit dem Ziel eine verkehrte Welt darzustellen und die ethnische Ordnung, die durch die ägyptisierte Oberschicht der Nubier ins Wanken gerät, aus ägyptischer Sicht wiederherzustellen.
State, Criminality and Security in Central Asia: What Do Eurasian Regional Organizations Contribute to Security and Peace?
Authors: Kreikemeyer Anna
Published: February 2014

How do the CSTO, SCO, EU and OSCE contribute to stability and peace in Central Asia? Power in the Central Asian states is patrimonial in nature. This leads to corruption and interlinkages can be identified between the state and various conflict factors, including the drug trade, ethnic conflicts, and Islamist extremism. The corrupt regimes seek above all to maintain their power and control of resources. This makes life hard for international organizations, whose contributions to security and peace are examined in turn.
Distributing Duties and Counting Costs
Authors: Dunne Tim
Published: February 2014

Building on arguments advanced in a new book on the idea of ‘special responsibilities’ in world politics, this article brings to the foreground what is often in the background of R2P debates. Specifically, it explores how far a special responsibilities frame can bridge the gap between the ‘permissive’ character of the R2P regime and the cosmopolitan desire to see decisive humanitarian rescue as an obligation. Special responsibilities also provides an opening to consider the other side of the register, namely, how the burdens and costs of intervention should be distributed. To date, it is realists who have raised such questions; I argue that, constructivists need to address them too. With better burden-sharing arrangements related to special responsibilities, great powers will be more inclined to accept the further movement of R2P in the direction of an obligatory regime.
Application of the Cost Recovery Principle on Water Services in the Netherlands
Authors: Lindhout* P.E.
Published: February 2014

Water, as being considered a public good in the Netherlands, is a responsibility of the government. In this article an overview is provided of the implementation of the cost recovery obligation for water services (Article 9 WFD) in Dutch legislation outlining the different costs involved and the method the costs are recovered for the different water services. A number of possible shortcomings in application of the cost recovery obligation are identified and discussed.