Evaluating the Clinton Impeachment: Judicial,International, and Institutional Perspectives

Bowling, Kenneth R., and Donald R. Kennon, eds. The House and Senate in the 1790s: Petitioning, Lobbying, and Institutional Development. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2002. Pp. x, 348. $44.95 hardbound.Ackerman, Bruce, ed. Bush v. Gore: The Question of Legitimacy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002. Pp. xii, 240. $26.95 hardbound.Kotlowski, Dean J. Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. xi, 404. $35.00 hardbound.DiClerico, Robert E, and James W. Davis. Choosing our Choices: Debating the Presidential Nominating Process. Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield Publishers, 2000. Pp. ix, 136. $16.95 softbound.Knott, Stephen F. Alexander Hamilton &; the Persistence of Myth. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2002. Pp. x, 336. $34.95 hardbound.     

"Naked" Baptism in the Early Church: The Rhetoric and the Reality

Baptism was understood as a radical life-changing act in the early church. Its radical nature was reflected by it being administered to candidates, male and female, who were apparently naked. The issue of nakedness must, however, be re-examined in view of the fact that baptism was normally administered by male clergy and Judeo-Christian modesty would not likely allow a religious practice where female nakedness was exposed to male gaze. This makes it unlikely that male clergy did in fact baptize naked women. The article notes that the term gymnos , used for nakedness, had a much wider usage than its English equivalent and might simply point to divestiture of outer garments only. Certain patristic texts support this perspective by apparently indicating relative nakedness only in baptism. Nevertheless, the language of "nakedness" was used to underscore the radical death-and-birth nature of the baptismal rite.     

阿尔文·约翰逊与“流亡大学”的创办

20世纪30至40年代,为对抗纳粹德国的残暴政策和美国社会的冷漠态度,在拯救欧洲知识难民的行动中,美国知识界“新左派”代表人物阿尔文.约翰逊,以他非凡的胆识、乐观主义的精神和顽强的努力,在他领导的纽约“社会研究新学院”内部,创办了一所被称之为“流亡大学”的研究生院,接受了182名来自欧洲各国的著名科学家,从而使这所“流亡大学”成为了美国社会科学“国际化”的突破口和世界上第一个国际性的社会科学研究中心。     

甲骨卜辞之"正"和"又正"

把甲骨卜辞的结构分为"前辞"、"命辞"、"占辞"、"验辞"几个部分,这对于卜辞的早期研究意义重大,但随着对甲骨卜辞研究的深入,这种分法逐渐显露出一些弱点,它不能真正揭示甲骨占卜祭祀的全过程,一些卜辞的性质被隐藏了起来.虽然学界提出了署辞、兆辞、果辞等术语,以期更细致的揭示卜辞的结构,但仍然有一些问题值得探讨.通过对卜辞...     

"Unworthy Servants": The Rhetoric of Resignation at Canterbury, 1070–1170

Medieval attempts to resign episcopal office hold many complexities: legal issues, religious ramifications, and the personal motivations behind such acts. Taken at face value, appeals to resign appear direct and explicit; bishops desire release from an office they feel unworthy to hold, or in which they feel they have accomplished little. On closer scrutiny, however, many of these texts reveal purposes quite apart from resignation. Indeed, the attempts of three archbishops of Canterbury to resign office in the eleventh and twelfth centuries reveal strikingly similar rhetorical devices that indicate less a desire to leave office than to bolster the archbishops' spiritual authority. The requests of Lanfranc, Anselm, and Thomas Becket employ language designed to reinforce episcopal centrality at times when kings and even popes dis-regarded its importance, at least in the eyes of these archbishops. Despite the differ-ing circumstances that gave rise to each appeal for resignation, the stylized discourse in all of them suggests a need to make specific points that would rouse support for or bolster the perception of the requestor's episcopal status. All three archbishops, as well as their chroniclers or biographers, saw issues of Canterbury's leadership in the spiritual life of England at stake, and resignation became the means to pro-mote and advance the episcopal cause. By bringing repeated phrases of unworthiness or lack of accomplishment into their appeals for resignation, each man sought a response that would reassure him of his worthiness and ability to lead Canterbury.     

Presidential Impeachment and Institutional Dynamics in the Iran-Contra Affair and the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal

This paper analyzes institutional dynamics affecting Congress's impeachment decisions regarding the Iran-Contra Affair and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. While other scholars have explained the Clinton impeachment by pointing to differences in the nature of the scandals–a decoupling of public opinion from legislative action, increasing partisanship, and a new media regime–these explanations overlook the nature of impeachment as an institutional confrontation, governed by institutional choices and dynamics. Taking an institutional approach, we argue that congressional decisions were strongly affected by the institutional arrangements adopted by Congress to handle the scandals' investigations. In brief, the earlier strategic approaches of party leaders and the congressional investigatory approach restrained inclinations to impeach President Reagan, while later ones promoted President Clinton's impeachment. More broadly, this analysis demonstrates the important interaction between institutional choices and party leaders' powers and strategies in affecting congressional action.     

President Obama,the Bible,and Political Rhetoric

Abstract

How has President Obama made use of the Bible in his political rhetoric, especially as it relates to public policy debates? This article addresses Obama's religious origins, his work as a community organizer in Chicago, his coming to Christian faith under the leadership of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the development of his understanding regarding the relationship between faith and politics. In particular President Obama has emphasized the notion that we are all our brothers' and sisters' keepers. He also stresses the present generation of black Americans as "the Joshua Generation." The article considers President Obama's hermeneutics, as well as the important context of the black church for his own use of Scripture. The lenses of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reinhold Niebuhr are also addressed as they relate to Obama's use of Scripture in political rhetoric.     

档史结合的硕果 珍贵的百卷巨帙——《中华民国史档案资料汇编》编后絮语

中国第二历史档案馆编辑的《中华民国史档案资料汇编》（１９１１－１９４９年）,已由江苏古籍出版社全部出齐了。全书分为５辑,共９０册,５０００余万字,汇集了馆藏民国历史档案之精华,为中国近现代史和民国史研究提供了一套全面系统的第一手资料。这套档案资料汇编,开始编辑于２０世纪５０年代,完稿于９０年代,其间历经了“文革”的１０年风雨,改革开放的２０年,直到今年春天才出版齐全。其编辑时间断断续续长达半个世纪,参加编辑人员先后近３０人,昔日翩翩年少的编者,现在已是白发苍苍的老人了。一 有友问曰：你们为什么要…