A Russian Version of Christian Realism: Spiritual Wisdom and Politics in the Thought of S. L. Frank (1877–1950)

Christian realism is a concept normally associated with the US theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr. However, Niebuhr was not alone in warning Christians of the dangers of utopianism and trying to promote a religiously inspired political realism; thinkers from a number of countries had similar aspirations. In this context, the Russian philosopher Semyon Liudvigovich Frank (1877–1950) deserves particular attention. A Marxist in his youth, Frank became disillusioned with revolutionary ideas before and after the 1905 revolution, and was drawn away from politics to philosophy. However, he remained interested in political questions, both while he was in Russia and after he was forced into exile in 1922. This found expression in the 1940s in a form of Christian realism. Frank rejected the doctrine ‘the end justifies the means.’ But he was a gradualist in his approach to social change, believing that politicians needed to have a pragmatic attitude of mind. A distinctive feature of Frank's approach was the connection he made between spiritual inwardness on the one hand and effective decision-making on the other, although he also saw spirituality as arising in a social context. Ultimately, there was a mystical dimension to Frank's Christian realism that was absent in Niebuhr's doctrine.     

Petrographic analysis and INAA geochemistry of prehistoric ceramics from Robinson Pueblo, New Mexico

The examination of thin sections is a successful method for discovering provenance groupings of archaeological ceramics if non-clay inclusions in pottery paste can be identified with petrographically distinctive geologic sources. When this is not the case, geochemical analysis must be employed to search for more subtle evidence of such groupings. This situation is likely to arise in studies, such as the present one, where the objective is to discern local or subregional patterns of pottery manufacture and exchange. Ninety potsherds from site LA46326 in New Mexico were subjected to both INAA and petrographic analysis. The results of this conjoint approach are assessed in relation to geochemical theory and are analysed graphically and statistically.