Inequality reconsidered

Lloyd A. Fallers. Inequality: Social Stratification Reconsidered. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973. xii + 330 pp. Tables, figures, bibliography, and index. $12.50.     

Bede's miracles reconsidered

The miracles depicted by the Venerable Bede – particularly in his Historia ecclesiastica – have proved problematic for historians. This article will first recapitulate the argument that miracles were not a clearly defined category for Bede in the way they would become for later philosophers and as is often assumed by modern commentators. It will then explore the idea that Bede's miraculous episodes can best be appreciated as signa that point to a meaning beyond the literal. In particular, it will argue against the idea that Bede thought that extra‐biblical history could not be read allegorically in the same way as sacred history. It is imperative that we develop a more refined understanding of Bede's conceptualization of the miraculous if we are to better comprehend the mechanics of his celebrated narrative of the English church.     

Party convergence reconsidered

That the major parties in Australia have converged is an idea of long standing. But proponents of the idea differ about when it happened, why it happened and what its consequences might be. In revisiting the party convergence thesis, this article does three things. First, it documents the recurrent nature of this thesis and its varying terms, arguing that claims of convergence: focus on some criteria while ignoring others; confuse movements in policy space with changes in party distance; and involve an implicit essentialism, so that any two parties that share an ideology are assumed to share policy positions that can be derived from that ideology. Second, it reviews studies of election speeches since the war, and studies of government expenditure patterns and tax schedules from Whitlam to Hawke, which cast doubt on, or heavily qualify, the idea that the parties have converged or lost their traditional distinctiveness. Third, it shows that on these matters the views of voters are closer to those of the policy analysts than to those of the pundits. Survey respondents continue to distinguish between the parties on particular policies and in Left–Right terms, they care who wins, and they think the party that wins matters.     

The Antikythera Mechanism reconsidered

Abstract

The Antikythera Mechanism, the world's oldest known geared mechanism, became widely known through the work of Derek Price who, concluding that its dials yielded astronomical and calendrical information, called it a 'calendar computer'. Price rightly drew attention to its importance as direct evidence for a high level of mechanical accomplishment in ancient times, but his account of the instrument itself is deficient. I have developed a new reconstruction on the basis of an independent survey of the original, drawing on my knowledge of early mechanism and of the history of craft techniques, and on my experience as a practical mechanic. This reconstruction follows the observed detail far more closely than does Price's. It displays somewhat different astronomical information, according closely with the contemporary literary evidence of interest in the making of planetaria. The main features of the new reconstruction, previously described elsewhere in a series of papers, are here brought together so as to convey a better impression of the whole. A model, made to the same scale as the original, demonstrates that the reconstruction is workable.     

Mediterranean port cities: Cosmopolitanism reconsidered

This article considers two intimately related claims about Mediterranean port cities. First, that their citizens felt more affinity with each other than they did with the inhabitants of non‐port cities. And second that they were the scenes of liberal cosmopolitanism during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It discusses the concept of “cosmopolitanism”, and briefly reviews the case of Izmir as an exemplar and compares it to the cities of Alexandria and Trieste. The article argues for a more careful and differential use of the notion of “cosmopolitanism”, and suggests questions for further anthropological and historical research.     

泰山岱庙馆藏水陆画初探

水陆画是佛教举行水陆法会时专门悬挂在佛室四周墙壁上的画像。五代以后,佛教水陆法会由印度传人中国,成为佛教最盛大的佛事活动之一,至元明时流传日趋广泛。在其流传的过程中则不断融入了中国本土宗教文化的色彩。活动自身渗入了道教和儒教的元素,表现形式也逐渐为传统道教和其他民间宗教所接受,两种文化出现了相互融合的现象。这些现象在水陆画中也得到很好的印证：一是水陆画成为天上、人间、地府等三界组成的全像图,儒释道内容皆备;     

The organisation of military religion in the armies of King Edward I of England (1272–1307)

King Edward I of England (1272–1307) was an exceptionally capable leader both on the battlefield and in the organisation of the bureaucratic institutions necessary for the successful pursuit of his military objectives. The military history of Edward’s reign has benefited from extensive scholarly attention, particularly with regard to matters such as military recruitment, battlefield strategy, and logistics. However, one major lacuna has been an examination of the pastoral care made available to soldiers serving the king in both peace and war. This study considers the means by which both professional fighting men and militia forces serving in the armies of Edward I were provided with the opportunity to obtain pastoral care. It considers in turn, soldiers attached to the royal household, the troops of the royal garrisons, militia forces drawn from the shires, and finally the contingents provided by men who held land from the king through military tenure.     

The personality of Guibert de Nogent reconsidered

Uncertainty over Guibert's reasons for writing his autobiography, the De vita sua, has prompted attempts at psycho-historical analyses of his personality. Such studies, in particular those of Benton and Kantor, have tended to rely overheavily on over-simplified psycho-analytical models and ignore cultural, historical and religious factors. An appreciation of such factors, however, does much to improve our understanding both of Guibert's personality and his reasons for writing. On the other hand, psycho-history is not to be dismissed as a worthless aid to the writing of history. With the application of suitable safeguards, as the work of Dom Jean Leclerq has demonstrated, it can form a most useful addition to the historian's armory.     

King Gesar Effectively Saved

King Gesar is an encyclopedia with contents covering social develop-ment, history, wars, religious belief, folklore, linguistics and exchanges between different tribes.In Tibet, folk balladeers declare they can sing up to 1,000 volumes of the epic, passed down through history orally and enriched in contents by the public themselves. The Central Government sets great store by the gathering, compiling and publishing of the epic, considered to be longer     

St Anselm and the English investiture controversy reconsidered

The Investiture Controversy in England has generally been viewed as a two-sided contest between king and pope. But in reality the struggle was between three parties — king, pope, and primate. St Anselm, devoted to his duties as God's steward of his office and its privileges, worked against both King Henry I and Pope Paschal II to bring into reality his idea of the proper status of the primate of all Britain. Anselm had a vision of a political model which he conceived as God's ‘right order’ in England, and all his efforts were directed toward fulfilling this vision.The Investiture Contest may be divided into two parts. The first phase began when Anselm was thwarted by Henry I's duplicity in the archbishop's attempt to force the king to accept the decrees of Rome at the height of a political crisis. Anselm may have seen these decrees as beneficial to the Canterbury primacy. From 1101 to 1103, Anselm wavered between supporting either party completely, meanwhile securing from Paschal all the most important privileges for the primacy of Canterbury. Each time Paschal refused to grant a dispensation for Henry, as Anselm requested, he granted Anselm a privilege for the primacy. Thus Anselm's vision of the primate as almost a patriarch of another world, nearly independent of the pope, was fulfilled by 1103.At this point, Anselm abandoned his vacillation between king and pope, and worked seemingly on behalf of Paschal, but in reality on behalf of the Canterbury primacy. During this second phase, Anselm's political adroitness becomes clear by a correlation, never before made, between the church-state controversy and Henry's campaign to conquer Normandy. By careful maneuvering and skilful propaganda, Anselm forced Henry to choose between submitting to the investiture decree or failing in his attempt to conquer Normandy. At the settlement, a compromise was worked out, Henry conceding on investitures, and Paschal conceding on homage. But investiture was only secondary to Anselm. He ended the dispute not when Henry submitted on investitures, but only when he had gained from Henry concessions which made the primate almost a co-ruler with the king, as his political vision demanded. Only after a public reconcilliation with his archbishop did Henry feel free to complete the Norman campaign.Thus the Investiture Controversy was a three-way struggle. Both king and pope compromised, each giving up some of their goals. But Anselm emerged from the contest having won nearly all his political objectives.     

渤泥国王墓地考析

明渤泥国王墓位于南京市南郊石子岗,山东德州北郊亦有苏禄国王墓,两墓皆按明代藩王墓规制营建,风格亦相似。两墓与明代藩王墓、明品官墓地在形制、石雕等方面进行比较后可以得出几点认识:明朝对渤泥国王的隆重安葬证明了两国之间的友好关系;渤泥国与明王朝的关系有宗主国和藩属国的色彩;从渤泥国王墓的石像生的风格可推断其作用及雕刻艺术水平与前代相比稍逊。     

STORIES of King Gesar

The epic, King Gesar, wasborn between the first andsixth centuries, namelybetween the fall of the clansociety to the establishment of slaverysociety. During the period, battlesbetween clans, tribes and ethnic groupsbroke out frequently. They serve as thesource of King Gesar.During the heyday of the TuboKingdom, i.e. from the 7th to the 9thcenturies, the Tibetan society experienced enormous changes featuringdevelopment of the productive forcesand cultural undertakings, and reinforced nationa…     

St Anselm and the English investiture controversy reconsidered

The Investiture Controversy in England has generally been viewed as a two-sided contest between king and pope. But in reality the struggle was between three parties — king, pope, and primate. St Anselm, devoted to his duties as God's steward of his office and its privileges, worked against both King Henry I and Pope Paschal II to bring into reality his idea of the proper status of the primate of all Britain. Anselm had a vision of a political model which he conceived as God's ‘right order’ in England, and all his efforts were directed toward fulfilling this vision.The Investiture Contest may be divided into two parts. The first phase began when Anselm was thwarted by Henry I's duplicity in the archbishop's attempt to force the king to accept the decrees of Rome at the height of a political crisis. Anselm may have seen these decrees as beneficial to the Canterbury primacy. From 1101 to 1103, Anselm wavered between supporting either party completely, meanwhile securing from Paschal all the most important privileges for the primacy of Canterbury. Each time Paschal refused to grant a dispensation for Henry, as Anselm requested, he granted Anselm a privilege for the primacy. Thus Anselm's vision of the primate as almost a patriarch of another world, nearly independent of the pope, was fulfilled by 1103.At this point, Anselm abandoned his vacillation between king and pope, and worked seemingly on behalf of Paschal, but in reality on behalf of the Canterbury primacy. During this second phase, Anselm's political adroitness becomes clear by a correlation, never before made, between the church-state controversy and Henry's campaign to conquer Normandy. By careful maneuvering and skilful propaganda, Anselm forced Henry to choose between submitting to the investiture decree or failing in his attempt to conquer Normandy. At the settlement, a compromise was worked out, Henry conceding on investitures, and Paschal conceding on homage. But investiture was only secondary to Anselm. He ended the dispute not when Henry submitted on investitures, but only when he had gained from Henry concessions which made the primate almost a co-ruler with the king, as his political vision demanded. Only after a public reconcilliation with his archbishop did Henry feel free to complete the Norman campaign.Thus the Investiture Controversy was a three-way struggle. Both king and pope compromised, each giving up some of their goals. But Anselm emerged from the contest having won nearly all his political objectives.