Speaking the Truth to the Power of the Presidency

Abstract

Instead of focusing on what characteristics the next president of the United States should have, we need to focus on the institutional realities of the presidency. Those realities consistently reflect a system dedicated to maintaining the dominance of the United States through economic and military power, and maintaining the ruling elite's control of economic and political power in this country. Persons committed to the practice of the Gospel, especially in solidarity with the poor, must name, confront and resist those institutional and cultural realities. This truth-telling can take many forms, such as life in community with the poor, public speaking, preaching, writing, demonstrations, civil disobedience, and some involvement in electoral politics. All of these will be informed by a realism that struggles faithfully without placing undue hope on presidential politics.     

唐代扳指杯渊源考

在中国唐代金银器、陶瓷器中,扳指杯是引人注目的一类器物。本文在分析唐代扳指杯形制特征的基础上,结合国外资料,提出扳指杯源于罗马造型意匠,萨珊波斯、粟特等的扳指杯,在吸收罗马造型的基础上,形成了自身的一些特征;而中国扳指杯在造型上的细部差别,可能一方面反映了罗马意匠的扳指杯传入中国的不同途径和方式,另一方面反映着外来文化因素与中国传统造型艺术的和谐融合。     

从晚清汉学区域之发展看汉宋调和

汉宋调和是晚清儒学内部重要的学术思潮,对其时学术格局的转化亦发生重要作用.这一思潮由微趋盛,从学术自身的发展过程来看,与汉学新兴区域在晚清的迅速扩展有着不容忽视的关系.汉学在晚清的发展不再以苏、皖、京师为限,浙江、广东等省成为新的学术重镇.这些汉学新兴发展区域由于特定的学术背景与学术渊源,学者们基本上都提倡汉宋调和,从而对晚清汉宋调和思潮的盛行起了极大推动作用.     

乾隆朝清宫十八罗汉唐卡名相解析

藏、汉两地佛教经典及佛学之传播,直承印度晚出之大乘佛学,但罗汉信仰却在两地佛教中均占一席之地,尤其是于汉藏两地家喻户晓的十六罗汉(后演绎成十八罗汉),不仅与佛和菩萨一样成为信徒崇拜的对象,而且以之为题材的绘塑作品更是广泛流传,及至帝廷内苑亦多有供奉收藏。清乾隆时期为安抚蒙藏势力而极力推崇藏传佛教,此信仰尤以宫中为盛,帝室庋藏、绘制及供奉有大量藏风浓郁的十六或十八罗汉唐卡组画,其名称、图像特征、排列顺序乃至绘画风格等与清官旧藏的内地各派罗汉图相比,同中存异。乾隆帝及藏传佛教大师们在对藏密佛像进行大规模系统化与规范化的同时,也涉及了汉藏两地十分流行的十六、十八罗汉,并在此基础上逐渐形成了具有乾隆时期清宫特色的十八罗汉图像标准。     

退出印度前夕的英国殖民者与印度王公的消失

殖民地印度时期,在南亚次大陆上分布着560多个土邦。二战后英国工党政府背弃了以往保守党的土邦政策,采取了理论上继续支持王公、现实中则背弃王公的两面性政策。代表英王的副王和政治部支持王公拥有成立自治领的权力,试图以此为筹码为王公的未来争取更多的利益,而其真实态度则是鼓励宗主国从土邦撤离,要求王公加入未来的新政府。在印巴分治的前夜,英属印度政府成立土邦部,出台《加入协定》,采取了威逼利诱的两手策略。宗主国的政策转变、政策的两面性、对土邦态度的暖昧性和土邦策略的两手性使王公被迫加入了新成立的自治领,致使印度王公消失。     

由禅让制度论及尧舜时代我国已进入中国早期国家阶段

尧舜禹时代实行的禅让制度是与夏代以后王位世袭制度迥然有别的政治制度。学界一般认为禅让是前国家阶段政治情况的反映。其实,实行禅让制度的尧舜时代已具备与其后的夏商周三代相同的社会特征,文献和考古学方面都反映出这种情况。当时各方国内部已经确立王位世袭制度,禅让只是方国之间推举联盟首领的制度。处于早期国家阶段的尧舜禹时代与战国以后的国家形态还有一定差别,而具有一些区别于后世的自己的特征。     

元《庆元儒学洋山砂岸复业公据》碑考辨

《庆元儒学洋山砂岸复业公据》碑是目前发现存世的仅有的一例附有八思巴字元代公据碑。本文在释录碑文的基础上,通过对宋末元初庆元路儒学对位于昌国州的洋山砂岸被侵占所提起的二次诉讼案及相关人物的考察,试图揭示元代赡学砂岸被占的实质,以起补史、证史之作用。同时,作为一例完整个案,为元代司法、儒学等方面的研究提供第一手史料。     

试论大革命时期苏联对国民二军的援助

国民二军,是20世纪20年代重要的军事集团.北京政变后,在苏联政府的大力援助下,国民二军获得迅猛发展.它的发展壮大,不仅直接打击了北洋军阀的统治,使河南和陕西境内的革命运动迅速高涨,为国民军经营西北打下基础,同时也有力地配合了南方巩固革命政权的军事行动.     

Religion and the cultural public sphere: the case of the Finnish liberal intelligentsia during the turmoil of the early twentieth century

The political public sphere is at one and the same time both public, and private and religion operates in both the public and the private spheres in the modern way of life. This article approaches the dynamics between the cultural and the political public sphere from the point of view of religion; how the cultural intelligentsia developed its worldview fuelled with attitudes towards religion in times of political turmoil. The case study, based on the empirical analysis of cultural periodicals and societies around them, concerns the Finnish liberal intelligentsia in the early twentieth century. The first decade of the 1900s was a particularly important period of formation for the Finnish public sphere; the societal turmoil highlighted the importance of cultural periodicals in defining what was important for the national public sphere. The case of religion is an illustrative example of it, particularly from the point of view of the liberal intelligentsia of the era.     

Situating the Asia Pacific in the age of the Anthropocene

ABSTRACT

The unprecedented and unsustainable impact of human activities on the biosphere threatens the survival of the Earth's inhabitants, including the human species. Several solutions have been presented to mitigate, or possibly undo, this looming global catastrophe. The dominant discourse, however, has a monolithic and Western-centric articulation of the causes, solutions, and challenges arising from the events of the Anthropocene which may differ from the other epistemes and geographies of the world. Drawing on the International Relations (IR) critical engagement with the Anthropocene, this paper situates the Asia-Pacific region in the Anthropocene discourse. The region’s historical and socio-ecological characteristics reveal greater vulnerability to the challenges of the Anthropocene compared to other regions while its major economies have contributed recently to the symptoms of the Anthropocene. On the other hand, the region’s ecocentric philosophies and practices could inform strategies of living in the Anthropocene. This contextualised analysis aims to offer an Asia-Pacific perspective as well as insights into the development of IR in the age of the Anthropocene.     

Building the New Cultural Finland: the student magazine Ylioppilaslehti,the public sphere and the creation of the Finnish cultural elite in the post-war era

The Finnish student magazine Ylioppilaslehti has been an important publication in the Finnish public sphere. This article studies the role of Ylioppilaslehti in creating the Finnish public sphere in the post-war decades. On the one hand, this was a period in which the political position of Finland was unstable, but, on the other, the students experienced ‘a hunger for culture’. The article is also interested in what role Ylioppilaslehti played in creating the Finnish elite. The magazine is an institution, which has been an arena for the Finnish cultural and political elite throughout the 20th century, and the 1950s was a particularly significant period for its participation in the Finnish process of social construction.     

新中国成立前后中财委恢复城乡交流的政策研究

建国前夕和建国初期,中财委在领导全国稳定物价和统一财经的工作中,通过贸易系统的恢复和商业资本的注入,复苏了被国民党政府及长年战争中断的城乡交流。随后,中财委在工商业调整中拟订了收购土产等政策并转交了城市经营方针,进一步推动了城乡交流的发展,使国内经济得以恢复,并为中国工业的发展提供了正确的发展方向和路径。回顾这段历史,对于我们统筹好当今的城乡关系具有重要的启示和借鉴意义。     

A History of the Concept of the Stimulus and the Role it Played in the Neurosciences

The term stimulus, as it was used in science from its earliest appearance in the sixteenth century up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, shows a gradual progress in denotation from the physical object designed to produce nervous and muscular excitation to the generically conceived event or object that initiates sensory or motor activity. To this shift corresponds a shift in the understanding of sensory experience. Johannes Müller's law of specific energy of sensory nerves played a major role in the shift, and Hermann von Helmholtz gave the shift its most thorough philosophical explanation.     

论英国革命成因研究的史学演变

英国革命成因问题是英国史研究的经典课题.关于英国革命成因的史学流派的演变基本上反映了英国近现代史学的演进趋势,从克拉伦敦伯爵为首的保王党史学到以休谟为首的托利派史学以及以马考莱、伽狄纳为首的辉格派史学,从20世纪的社会经济史学、马克思主义史学,再到20世纪70年代的修正派史学,历史学本身的质疑特质在英国革命成因的史学演变中得到了充分的体现.     

《西域土地人物略》的最早、最好版本

本文认为 ,《西域土地人物略》是现存少数记述明代西域史地的历史文献之一 ,其所证地域最广 ,可信程度甚高 ,并反映了当时西域与中原的联系及其相互影响。但目前两种通行本不仅文字讹误歧异处甚多 ,而且体例亦不相同 ,学者不知所从。得其祖本嘉靖《陕西通志》本 ,通行本中的讹误歧异即可厘清。至其作者 ,当非汉人或穆斯林 ;作时当在宣德十年 ( 14 35)甚至成化十年 ( 14 74 )之后。     

关于元杂剧《灰阑记》的来源问题

《灰阑记》引起了世界的关注,国内有学论及了它的来源和世界性影响问题,这有意义。但学关于《灰阑记》题材来源的说法是不正确的。《灰阑记》虽在内容上与佛教、基督教、伊斯兰教所记的故事有相似之处,但李行道却不是从这三个宗教故事中取材。一,三个宗教虽在唐代以前就传入中国,但其时除了佛教有关故事已翻译过来以外,其他两个同类故事是不是已经翻译过来,难以确定;二．李行道是中国的隐士,不是宗教信徒,他受中国传统化的影响,《风俗通义》是宋元习见之书,他见到的可能性更大;三,元杂剧创作中普遍存在着吸取历史故事、小说等材料进行创作的倾向．李行道所在的平阳是当时杂剧创作的中心之一,他当然会受到这个倾向的影响。因此,我们认为,他是从中国本土的故事受到启发,创作了《灰阑记》。中国本土故事就是见载于《风俗通义》中的黄霸断两妇人争子的故事。《灰阑记》的故事情节、宗旨．与之极为一致。世界几种化中都存在着《灰阑记》式的故事,这一情形值得深入研究。用比较的方法研究中外化及学的相互影响及异同,是有意义的,但应注重事实,不应轻言袭用而贬低一个民族创造化的努力和对世界化的贡献。     

评蒙古帝国衰亡对蒙古社会发展的影响

成吉思汗建立了蒙古帝国,以千户制巩固了统治,国土横跨欧亚。至忽必烈在中原大地建立了蒙元王朝。１３６８年元朝灭亡后,众多蒙古人返回蒙古本土,与当地统治者发生权力斗争。蒙古本土也因无法为骤然增多的人口提供给养而导致经济崩溃。蒙古人不断侵扰明朝边境,迫使永乐皇帝率兵亲征,更加剧了蒙古困难局面。重建蒙古强力政权的努力一再破产。直至达延可汗,蒙古再现生机。     

What the drone saw: the cultural optics of the unmanned war

The dramatic growth of drone warfare in the last decade has meant the arrival of a new kind of war imagery in civilian life: the view through the drone camera. As such, the drone is not simply a weapon, but also an emerging medium for representing conflict. This article explores the ways this imagery has been selected, interpreted, framed and put to use in public and popular culture. In addition to exploring how these practices of looking fit within the larger history of war imagery, two prominent features of ‘drone vision’ are identified: the promotion of consumer interactivity in the drone war and the militarising of domestic space.     

北朝隋唐入华粟特人死亡观研究——以葬具图像的解读为主

Miho、青州和史君墓围屏石榻或石椁上直接表现丧葬仪式的图像,为我们了解和研究入华粟特人葬俗和死亡观提供了丰富的实物证据和图像资料。结合粟特故地、丝绸之路及其它入华粟特人墓葬的考古资料与中外历史、宗教文献记载,可以看出入华粟特人死亡观主要体现在以下四个方面:从犬视尸毒到事死如生;从善恶二元观到钦瓦特桥审判;圣火与善神崇拜;灵魂不死与天国享乐。     

On the association between the QBO and the extratropical stratosphere

Although diagnostic studies and mechanistic model experiments have found that, on average, the polar vortex in northern winter is stronger and colder in the west than in the east years of the equatorial Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), we show with an expanded data base that the results are not statistically significant. The reason for the insignificance is that in 36% of the winters (13 out of 36) the vortex was warm and weak in the west, and cold and strong in the east years. Only at low activity in the 11-yr solar cycle did the difference between the west (cold) and the east (warm) years become statistically significant. At high solar activity the west years had a warm and the east years a cold polar vortex in the mean. We show this association with the 11-yr solar cycle also in terms of the geostrophic wind.