Barbarian interest in the Excerpta Latina Barbari

Joseph Justus Scaliger dubbed the text of Parisinus Latinus 4884, the sole surviving witness to a Merovingian Latin translation of a now lost Greek world chronicle, the Excerpta Latina Barbari. The name was essentially a judgement on the linguistic abilities of the translator, but it is suggestive. What is there in the chronicle to appeal to the ‘barbarian’ inhabitants of Gaul? An answer to this question can offer some insight into the provenance of a neglected, but intriguing text. It will be proposed that the Greek original of the Excerpta was composed as a gift for the Austrasian king Theudebert I and was intended to elicit his aid in the war against the Ostrogothic rulers of Italy. The translation is another matter. It seems to have been undertaken about two centuries later in the context of the missionary push to the north and east from Frankish territory.     

A Long History of Faith‐Based Welfare in Australia: Origins and Impact

In a nation where governments and churches have collaborated in the delivery of welfare services since 1788, such faith‐based welfare was seen as normative rather than problematic. Indeed most Australians would struggle to imagine a welfare system that was not built on such an arrangement. However, by the late twentieth century, the world views and ideologies of church leaders and politicians were no longer in alignment, creating tensions in the relationship. This article explores the origins and development of church–state collaboration in the delivery of welfare, and examines the impact this has had on both the shape of charity and the mission of the churches as faith‐based agencies are increasingly challenged in an environment in which government funding is tied to policies that potentially transgress the principles of the gospels, and victims of past welfare practices demand reparation.     

Why the History of Parliament Has Not Been Written*

There have been legions of individual studies of the history of the English/British/United Kingdom parliament, which is not surprising, since its history is widely acknowledged to be so closely bound up with the history of the nation state itself. But there have been remarkably few attempts to put the story together, to try to consider the long‐term development of parliament as an institution. What would such a story look like? This essay discusses some of the critiques of the whiggish narrative of constitutional and parliamentary development to recognise a common theme in whiggism's tendency to anthropomorphise parliament, to describe it as a single organism with agency and purpose. To forgo that temptation, however, makes it difficult to provide a satisfying narrative of parliament over time. The essay tries to imagine how one might construct a history of parliament as an institution which no longer sees it as an actor in its own story, but, instead, a complex collection of ideas, processes, customs, and conventions, which competing forces struggle to organise in order to achieve their goals, and which is also an arena and forum for that competition.     

《近似无限透明的蓝色》的电影化努力

《近似无限透明的蓝色》作为小说,后现代主义倾向和因素、或者说艺术上的最大特点,是对电影艺术的诸多借鉴和整合,并且从中找到了小说文本的全新形态。对于小说和电影的执著,之于村上龙是很难分出伯仲的。正因为如此,他才可能在小说创作中,把电影艺术的长处信手拈来,融汇期间,为自己的文本找到全新的叙事模式,并成为村上龙小说艺术风格的一大特色。     

Topoiesis de los dispositivos de registro del texto literario

ABSTRACT

Never before have the layout, the text format, and support been as important as they are today. Studies reflecting on the relationship between the meaning of the literary text and its form have rapidly increased. This kind of study has focused mostly on the history of the reading process and the history of the book as well as on the possibilities of new technologies in the literary field. However, none of these approaches has reached the point of creating a comprehensive methodology for the analysis of the relationship between the message and its channel. This work is intended to propose a methodology of analysis based on some concepts such as peritexts (Genette) and visuo-graphic zone (Cárdenas).     

Theorizing Presidential Tenure: The Difficult Case of FDR's Fourth Term

This article examines Franklin Delano Roosevelt's pursuit of a fourth term in 1944, despite the significant erosion of his physical health beginning in late 1943. Not only did Roosevelt pursue a fourth term against long odds that he would not survive it, but he put little effort into the selection and policy education of Vice President Truman. This pursuit of a fourth term is critical to debates over presidential tenure, and particularly evaluations of the 22nd Amendment, which since 1951 has limited presidents to two terms. It is a "difficult case," however, because despite obvious miscalculations on the part of FDR and his advisors in 1944– which reinforce arguments of term limits proponents–a two term limit would have prevented a third term for Roosevelt as well, thereby depriving the nation of his experienced leadership in a time of war, especially in the crucial early years of the war. The article concludes by supporting the existing two term limitation which, despite its faults, effectively addresses problems of long presidential tenure while also providing periodic renewals of leadership.     

Enology Science and Technology Improve an Ancient Art

Abstract

The emerging science of enology is an interdisciplinary synthesis of chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, engineering and sensory analytical science. Cbemistry analyses grapes, monitors progress of fermentation and assures that the wine is stable and in conformity with legal specifications. Knowledge of the enzymatically mediated reactions of yeasts and bacteria allows control through external conditions, thus yielding berter wines. Their production also demand modern engineering methods and materials. Wine is made to be appreciated with other foods on the basis of its smell and taste, hence sensory analytical methods can control its production. Basically grape growing and winemaking must be a very ancient practical art because it would have required centuries to develop the sophisticated state depicted in the earliest written records of the third millennium B.C. Louis Pasteur provided the scientific basis for understanding enology and since his time enology has gradually moved from a practical art towards the science of enology. It is hard to imagine how wines of the future will be better than those we now enjoy, the finest ever produced. Certain it is, however, that they will be still better.     

“What's a Single Man Blathering about? Jesus on Marriage.”

The church throughout its history has laid claim to Jesus’ teaching about marriage. It has dubbed the declared distillations to be the “dominical words on marriage.” The only problem is that historical criticism has left contemporary readers with no certainty about what Jesus actually said; literary critics have destabilised whether Jesus’ words on marriage were ever intended to be transtemporal; textual critics have demonstrated the impossibility of nailing down any fixed teaching and ideological critics have shown the vested interests of scribes in shaping the meaning of the text from the very beginning. Marriage, it seems, is a Rorschach test completely subject to the needs and interests of those who venture into looking at it. Consequently Jesus can relegate marriage to a practice not even worthy of the resurrection, prize it open to multiple spouses whether contemporaneous or sequential, enforce asymmetrical pairings based on gender, and generally fall in with whatever state or church decisions might be. “Dominical words on marriage” proves to be a house built on sand.     

The Purpose of Porphyry's Letter to Marcella

Porphyry's Letter to Marcella was ostensibly written by the Neoplatonic philosopher, while away on a mission on behalf of the Greeks, in order to encourage his wife, Marcella, to continue her study of philosophy during his absence. The precise date of the letter is uncertain. It is here argued that it was intended for public circulation and should be seen in association with Porphyry's anti-Christian polemic. It can be interpreted as a protreptic text intended to convert its readers to true philosophy, and it is suggested that it was directed to those women who might otherwise be attracted to Christianity. Marcella can be said to represent the intended readership of the letter.     

UN transformation in an era of soft balancing

Between 2003 and 2006 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan pursued the most ambitious overhaul of the United Nations since its inception. This transformation effort aimed to make the UN more effective in addressing non‐traditional threats and to persuade the United States to re‐engage with the world body. Launched during a time that was unpropitious for achieving far‐reaching change, the effort nonetheless produced some surprising agreements. Several factors prevented greater achievement: the episodic attention of the Bush administration and the personal agenda of John Bolton, the US permanent representative to the UN; the failure of the UN Secretariat to pursue a capital based strategy that engaged heads of state and foreign ministers; and the decision by many member states that they would rather have an ineffective United Nations than an effective one that furthered the interests of the Bush administration. Whether future efforts to transform collective security will fall victim to the same fate depends in part on the actions and words of a new American president in 2009.     

SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A STRICTLY QUASI-CONCAVE CONTINUOUS UTILITY FUNCTION? OR,HOMO ECONOMICUS,PART TWO‘

Those who have stuck with modelling since those heady days have largely been able to do so, I suspect, by restricting the nature of the questions they ask. (Harvey 1989, 212)
One can imagine a world, perhaps, in which the growth of knowledge was interestingly philosophizable. But it doesn't seem to be our world. (McCloskey 1988, 245)     

No and after: options for Europe

The French and Dutch ‘no’ votes in referendums on the European Union Constitutional Treaty have thrown the EU into turmoil. The messages from both referendums are that public dissatisfaction with European integration is widespread and there is a disjuncture between the views of citizens and those of elites. The original purpose of the process that produced the Constitutional Treaty was to bring the EU closer to its citizens. However, the text that was negotiated was an unwieldy document intended to satisfy diverse requirements but difficult to explain concisely. After the completion of negotiations some governments, for reasons of political expediency, took decisions to hold referendums on the treaty, but the future of The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe that took three years to complete is now uncertain. Furthermore, member states are divided about whether to press ahead with ratification after the two recent ‘no’ votes. What is the range of alternatives to member states if they wish to salvage the treaty or component parts? Finding a way through this current situation is the task the British government faces as it takes on the EU presidency from 1 July 2005.     

High Court Review 2006: Australian Federalism—Implications of the WorkChoices Decision

This year's High Court Review focuses exclusively on the WorkChoices decision, in which the federal government's new industrial relations regime was upheld by the High Court as within the Commonwealth's powers under s. 51(xx) of the Constitution, the corporations power. The implications of the judgement are potentially momentous for Australian federalism. Thus, we begin with an overview of changes in Australian federalism over time, including its fortunes in the High Court of Australia. We then consider the WorkChoices decision itself, outlining the most important aspects of the decision. We argue that the decision is the most important High Court decision on the constitutional division of federal powers since 1983, especially in the context of the corporatisation of policy delivery in the past few decades. Moreover, it reinforces the dominance of an orthodoxy in constitutional interpretation, thus confirming the demise of ‘activist’ tendencies. Finally, the judgement demonstrates the Court's preparedness to confirm changes to the workings of Australian federalism that, the evidence suggests strongly, would not pass at referendum. However, this view of the centralist implications of the decision is mediated by a consideration of the workings of intergovernmental relations. An examination of the potential changes in this area reveals a more complicated outcome, one with important implications for the manner in which intergovernmental negotiations might be conducted in future.     

Freemasonry in Turkey’s modern history of ideas: A factor of liberalization and individualization?

This article provides a brief outline of the impact of Turkish Freemasonry on the development of modern Turkey since the eighteenth century. It draws a short and incomplete history from a qualitative viewpoint, including influential topics, approaches, and camps. As European influences were historically strong in shaping Freemasonry on the Bosphorus, the text makes Turkish Freemasonry a case of Turkish‐European exchange and an example of specific currents of modernization, individualization, and liberalization—with all their pros and cons—within Islamic societies. The relevant questions are where and in which frameworks such currents may have been effective, where they perhaps produced the opposite of what they intended, and to what extent they could contribute to mitigating today’s torn political climate to all participants’ benefit. The article is based on interactions with representatives of Turkey’s Freemasonry, mainly of the liberal and progressive strands, making it more a narrative‐oriented account of an evolving greater picture than an array of detailed empirical‐scientific evidence on single pillars. The goal is to illustrate the complexity of “semi‐secular” socio‐religious dynamics in a Muslim context and to put the past into some relation to the present.     

Trump and the death of the Image

We would be wrong to imagine that Trump belongs in the long tradition of American politicians who are deeply concerned with managing their images. The idea of the image as a central feature of American life has been a popular axiom of the last seven decades and has not been adequately rethought. Trump has successfully found a following that likes him unvarnished and unadorned, and thus he has no hesitation to reveal his most repellent moral and social qualities. This indifference to the image is anchored in a deeper indifference to sociality itself and signals both the death of the image and the evacuation of any socially-grounded morality from public life.