“Have You Considered My Servant Job?” A Reflection on the Book of Job

Abstract

The Book of Job is often viewed as a story of unnecessary and undeserved suffering. A man who is “blameless” in the eyes of God is put through senseless anguish and misery simply because God and the Adversary have a wager. It is a story of a whimsical God who does not understand or care about human beings and their sufferings, and of an insignificant and yet defiant being who epitomizes human dignity and fortitude. This and other similar accounts make God villainous and human sufferings mysterious and incomprehensible. This article seeks to cast these issues in a different light by exploring some of the key terms in the Prologue and the speeches of God in the Theophany. The exploration ends with some reflections on Job in the Epilogue of the Book.     

Gender morality and emotion work in Taiwanese immigrant in-law relations

This study examines major social, economic, and cultural factors that sustain in-law inequality in Taiwanese transnational families. Data are based on life-history interviews with 16 Taiwanese immigrant women and ethnographic observations in a Midwest urban area. Findings suggest that middle-class immigrants’ abilities to host in-laws for lengthy periods and parents-in-law’s financial support for immigrant couples lead to the living arrangement of three-generation households in many immigrant families. Daughters-in-law in these households experience enormous stress because their mothers-in-law demand obedience. Traditional gender norms become moralized when the women’s husbands, mothers, and fellow immigrants reinforce Confucian cultural values of filial piety and respect for the elderly. Considering the importance of securing a stable family and children’s well-being, the women hesitate to challenge the power imbalance in their in-law relations. In a single ethnic household and a private domestic space, no competing gender ideology is available to contest Confucian culture. As a result, the women are compelled to fulfil their gender role expectations as submissive daughters-in-law. To cope with this home environment, they conduct varying degrees of emotion work and silence their voices, which results in the persistence of in-law patriarchy in these transnational households.     

学科共识、认知美德和学者角色--化解历史知识客观性问题的新思路

通常而言,客观性是客体的属性和特征,与主观性相对立。以此为对照,历史知识的客观性问题就展现为历史实在论与历史相对主义之间的辩难,难分仲伯。换一种思路而言,当代新实用主义历史哲学家则认为客观性与主观性是可区分但不可分离的整体,在横向结构上,历史知识的客观性是"自我、他者与世界"共在的语义三角,在纵向历程上,历史知识的客观性也是一个不断辩证发展的过程。在社会认识论或史学社会学的视野下,在自我与他者所组成的学术共同体之中,历史知识的客观性就具有了规范性的涵义。历史知识作为一种公共性的知识,历史知识的客观性就是历史学家群体之间所签订的"真之契约",是历史学家群体不断协商和试错出来的学科共识,同时也需要史家的认知美德和学者角色提供担保。     

周必大对小说与正史的态度——也谈"范仲淹神道碑"的删文问题

周必大(1126-1204),字子充,又字弘道,自号平园老叟,又号省斋居士,吉州庐陵(今江西吉安)人.绍兴二十一年(1152)进士,绍兴二十七年中博学宏词科,任建康府府学教授兼左修职郎;绍兴三十年任秘书省正字.     

中国对外贸易摩擦的应对机制探析

20世纪80、90年代以后,经济全球化成为支配世界发展的新趋势,经济发展的不平衡和利益不一致更加凸显,各国之间的经济摩擦日趋激烈。进入21世纪以来,全球贸易保护主义有所抬头,以反倾销、反补贴、反保障措施为主要手段的贸易摩擦已成为各国经济发展中“没有硝烟的战争”。面对伴随着中国和平崛起而出现的这一历史现象,必须抓紧制定出相应对策,建立相应的应对机制。     

《宋史·高丽传》史源考

《宋史.高丽传》所依据的史料来源主要有宋代历朝《国史.高丽传》和新、旧《五代史.高丽传》以及《五代会要》、《宣和奉使高丽图经》等宋人文献,并沿袭了这些史料中的不少讹误。     

满族说部《恩切布库》的文化解读

满族说部被列为国家非物质文化遗产后,逐渐得到国内外学者广泛关注。《恩切布库》作为说部家族成员,具有丰富的文化内涵。其中不仅展示了满族先人早期社会生活图景、宗教文化内涵,也是一部颇具特色的文学作品。     

关于鲁迅辑本《范子计然》等五种

《鲁迅辑校古籍手稿》第二函第五册收入与绍兴有关的古籍辑校本五种:《范子计然》、《魏朗子》、《任奕子》、《志林》、《广林》.后四种的作者都是绍兴人,《范子计然》作者不详,但范子即范蠡与绍兴关系密切,所以鲁迅也特别关注,予以辑录.